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MODULE 6

Facilitate the Teaching-Learning Process

Second Edition

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TEACHeXCELS

Second Edition

SEAMEO INNOTECHCopyright © by SEAMEO INNOTECHAll rights reserved. Published 2010. Printed in the Philippines

ISBN 978–971–0487–30–1

No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributedin any form or by any means, or stored in a database orretrieval system, without prior written permission ofSEAMEO INNOTECH.

www.seameo-innotech.orgwww.innotech.org

Contents

What Is This Module About? ...............................................................................

What Will You Learn? ...........................................................................................

Flow of Instruction ................................................................................................

What Do You Already Know? .............................................................................

Feedback .................................................................................................................

How Do You Rate Yourself? .................................................................................

Lesson 1: Understanding the Facilitative Teaching-Learning Process .........

What Is This Lesson About? .............................................................................

What Will You Learn? .......................................................................................

Let’s Read ............................................................................................................

Let’s Try This (Activity 1.1) .............................................................................

Feedback .............................................................................................................


Feedback .............................................................................................................

Let’s Think About This .....................................................................................

Let’s Read: What Is a Teaching Philosophy? .................................................

Let’s Try This (Activity 1.3): How to Write a Statement of

Teaching Philosophy .....................................................................................


Let’s Think About This: What Is Facilitative Teaching?................................

Let’s Read: Roles and Behaviors of Facilitative Teachers ............................


Let’s Read: Roles of the Principal in Supporting Facilitative

Teaching-Learning .........................................................................................

Let’s Study: Teaching Styles .............................................................................

Let’s Try This (Activity 1.5): Teaching Style Self-Evaluation ......................

Let’s Read: Teaching Style Categories ............................................................

Let’s Think About This: The All-Round Flexible and Adaptable Teacher ...


Feedback .............................................................................................................

Let’s Read: Teaching Techniques That Will Benefi t All Learners ...............

Let’s Remember .................................................................................................

How Much Have You Learned From This Lesson? ......................................

Feedback .............................................................................................................

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Lesson 2: Toward Effective Teaching-Learning ................................................




Let’s Study: Learning Styles .............................................................................


Let’s Read ............................................................................................................


Let’s Read: Myths and Facts About Learning ...............................................

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.2): Learning Styles Inventory .............................

Let’s Study: Motivating Students to Learn ....................................................

Let’s Read: The Science and Art of Teaching .................................................


Let’s Try This (Activity 2.3) ..............................................................................

Let’s Study: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation for Learning .....................

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.4) ..............................................................................

Feedback .............................................................................................................

Let’s Read: Teacher Expectations and Student Behaviors ...........................


Let’s Study: Effective Teaching Strategies ......................................................

Let’s Read: Motivating Students to Learn ......................................................


Let’s Remember .................................................................................................


Feedback .............................................................................................................

Lesson 3: Enhancing Questioning and Active Learning Skills for

Effective Teaching ...............................................................................




Let’s Read: Asking Good Questions to Enhance Learning ..........................


Feedback .............................................................................................................


Let’s Read: Tips for Asking Questions ............................................................

Let’s Study: Active Learning ............................................................................


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Let’s Read: Refl ective Teaching: Thinking About Teaching Toward

Professional Growth ......................................................................................

Let’s Study ..........................................................................................................

Let’s Remember .................................................................................................


Feedback .............................................................................................................

Let’s Sum Up ..........................................................................................................

How Much Have You Learned From This Module? ........................................

Feedback .................................................................................................................

How Do You Rate Yourself Now? .......................................................................

Let’s Apply What You’ve Learned (Module Assignment) ...........................

Key to Correction ..................................................................................................

Suggested Readings/Websites ............................................................................

Glossary ..................................................................................................................

References ...............................................................................................................

Annex A: Constructivism .....................................................................................

Annex B: Teaching Behaviors That Encourage Student Learning ..................

Annex C: Variables That Enhance Learning ......................................................

Annex D: Constructivist Teaching Behaviors ....................................................

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Facilitate the Teaching-Learning Process 1

What Is This Module About?

As a school head, you are expected to be the instructional leader in your

school. You are like the captain of a ship as you guide your school toward

its goal, that is, to provide good education to its students. The captain

is responsible for charting the course of the voyage as well as the fate of

everyone on the ship. He/She does not only need to know where to go, but

also how to get there on time.

Being an instructional leader requires you to know how to facilitate the

teaching-learning process and train the teachers in performing this task

effectively. You need to be able to help your teachers acquire the right skills

for effective classroom instruction and to manage their students’ behaviors

through effective facilitation skills. You should also be able to inspire

teachers to take the necessary steps to motivate their students to learn. You

may wonder, “How are these achieved? What can I do to help my teachers

become facilitators of the teaching-learning process?”

This TEACHeXCELS module has been designed to equip you with

important school head competencies that will enable you to lead the

teachers in your school towards teaching and learning excellence. This

module focuses on your important role in developing and enhancing

your teachers’ knowledge, skills, and values as facilitators of the teaching-

learning process. The more effectively your teachers perform their tasks,

the greater your students’ educational achievements will be.

Do you want to learn more about effective teaching-learning processes

and strategies that you can share with teachers in your school? Then this

TEACHeXCELS module is for you.

2 Facilitate the Teaching-Learning Process

What Will You Learn?

After studying this module, you should have enhanced your competencies

on facilitating the teaching-learning process and how you can effectively

share these with the teachers that you lead. You will develop skills that,

when transferred to your teachers, will help them deliver instruction more

effectively. You are expected to be able to do the following after completing

the lessons in this module:

• Describe the characteristics of facilitative teaching.

• Discuss the role of teaching philosophy in facilitating

the teaching-learning process.

• Write your statement of teaching philosophy.

• Guide your teachers in writing their statements of teaching

philosophy.

• Analyze your teaching style.

• Explain teaching styles to teachers.

• Guide the teachers in interpreting their teaching styles.

• Explain the different learning styles and factors that affect

learning.

• Explain motivation in the context of teaching and learning.

• Demonstrate effective teaching strategies to teachers.

• Train teachers in formulating enabling and challenging questions.

• Promote active learning and refl ecting thinking.

• Guide teachers in preparing lesson plans that integrate facilitative

teaching.

This module is composed of three lessons that will familiarize you with

strategies and techniques that can enhance the teaching-learning process,

namely:

Lesson 1. Understanding the Facilitative Teaching-Learning Process

Lesson 2. Toward Effective Teaching-Learning

Lesson 3. Enhancing Questioning and Active Learning Skills

for Effective Teaching


Lesson 1, Understanding the Facilitative Teaching-Learning Process, will

introduce you to the characteristics of an effective facilitative teaching-

learning process. It will also capacitate you on writing a teaching philosophy,

which serves as the foundation of a teacher’s instructional activities. You

will also study the four teaching styles and the roles teaching styles play in

facilitating teaching and learning.

Lesson 2, Toward Effective Teaching-Learning, describes the different

learning styles of students. You will learn the factors that affect learning,

as well as the common myths about learning styles. You will also be

familiarized with students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for learning

and issues related to the use of verbal praise as an educational motivator.

Lastly, you will learn several strategies that can enhance teaching-learning

in your school.

In Lesson 3, Enhancing Questioning and Active Learning Skills for

Effective Teaching, you will learn how to demonstrate to your teachers the

formulation of enabling questions, activities that promote active learning,

and refl ective thinking in order to enhance the teaching-learning process.

The lessons covered in this module will provide you with the essential

knowledge and skills that will help your teachers enhance your school’s

teaching-learning activities.

Each lesson can be completed in about two hours. The whole module can,

therefore, be completed in about six hours if you really take time to sit

down and work on it. It may, however, take you about a week to work on

the lessons on a part-time basis. Make sure you work diligently on the said

activities and tests to fi nd out how much you have learned.


Flow of Instruction

Lesson Focus Topics

1. Understanding the Facilitative Teaching-Learning Process

Defi nes what a teaching philosophy is.

Describes the characteristics of facilitative teaching.

Discusses the four categories of teaching styles.

• What is a Teaching Philosophy?

• How to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy

• What is Facilitative Teaching?

• Teaching Styles

• Teaching Styles Self-Evaluation

• Teaching Style Categories

2. Toward Effective Teaching-Learning

Describes the learning styles of students and the factors that affect their learning.

Discusses students’ motivation for learning as well as strategies that can enhance teaching-learning in school.

• Learning Styles·

• Common Myths about Learning

• Learning Styles Inventory

• The Science and Art of Teaching

• Motivating Students: Effective Teaching Strategies

• Instrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation for Learning

• Effective Teaching Strategies

3. Enhancing Questioning and Active Learning Skills for Effective Teaching

Explains how to formulate enabling questions to enhance learning.

Provides instructions on how to apply active learning strategies.

Examines refl ective teaching and how teachers can engage in it.

• Asking Good Questions to Enhance Learning

• Strategies to Convert Simple Questions to More Challenging Ones

• Active Learning

• Refl ective Teaching: Thinking About Teaching Toward Professional Growth


What Do You Already Know?

To fi nd out how much you already know about the concepts that will be

discussed in this module, try to answer the following questions.

1. What is the rationale behind writing a teaching philosophy?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2. What is facilitative teaching?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

3. The four learning styles based on a learner’s sensory preference

are provided below. Give two examples of teaching/instructional

activities that can maximize each learning style in the

spaces provided.

a. Visual

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

b. Auditory

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________


c. Kinesthetic

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

d. Tactile

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

4. Discuss the role of motivation in learning.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

5. What might happen if teachers failed to provide students with choices

in terms of learning activities?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

6. Can you tell between effective and ineffective praise? Write E on the

spaces beside the praise statements that are effective, and I for ineffective

praise statements.

________ a. Good job!

________ b. I am glad you completed your project on time.

________ c. You have the most scientifi c solution in your group.

7. Why is refl ective teaching important?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________


8. Why should teachers choose enabling questions over recall questions?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Feedback

Check your answers by comparing them with those in the Key to Correction

on pages 110-112. Some of your answers may not be expressed in exactly

the same way, but as long as the thoughts they express are similar, mark

your answers as correct.

The perfect score is 17 points. If you got 15 or more correct answers, you

are already very familiar with the contents of this module. However, you

may still need to study this module to refresh your memory and learn new

concepts. If you got a score of 14 or lower, the more you should study this

module carefully in order to acquire the knowledge, skills, and values

that will make you an effective instructional leader, especially in terms of

facilitating the teaching-learning process.

Before you proceed to Lesson 1, evaluate your current competency level by

fi lling out the following checklist.


How Do You Rate Yourself?

SELF-RATING COMPETENCY CHECKLIST

Directions: The checklist below contains a list of competencies covered in

this module. For each competency, there are four possible levels of mastery

(Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner, Expert). You will use this matrix to rate

your level of mastery of each competency prior to studying the module

(PRE), and after you complete the module (POST). For each competency,

place a check mark (p) under the appropriate “PRE” column which best

describes your level of mastery prior to studying the lessons of the module.

You will place a check mark (p) under the appropriate “POST” column

when you have completed the module. Comparing your two self-ratings

on the PRE and POST columns will tell you whether you have improved

your competency level or not.

COMPETENCY

I cannot

do this

yet

(Novice)

I am

learning how

to do this

(Apprentice)

I can do this

but I need to

learn more

and improve

(Practitioner)

I can

do this

very well

(Expert)

Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post

1. Discuss the role of teaching philosophy in facilitating the teaching-learning process.

2. Write your statement of teaching philosophy.

3. Describe the characteristics of facilitative teaching.

4. Analyze your teaching style.


COMPETENCY

I cannot

do this

yet

(Novice)

I am

learning how

to do this

(Apprentice)

I can do this

but I need to

learn more

and improve

(Practitioner)

I can

do this

very well

(Expert)

Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post

5. Explain the different teaching styles to teachers.

6. Guide teachers in interpreting their teaching styles.

7. Explain the different learning styles and factors that affect learning.

8. Explain motivation in the context of teaching and learning.

9. Demonstrate effective teaching strategies to teachers.

10. Train teachers in formulating enabling and challenging questions.

11. Promote active learning and refl ecting thinking.

12. Implement facilitative teaching and learning in your school.


What Is this Lesson About?

As the instructional leader in your school, you play an important role in

directing it toward achieving its educational goals. You are, therefore,

expected to constantly provide guidance to your teachers to help them

deliver quality education to their students. But how is quality education

achieved? Quality education is achieved primarily through the effective

facilitation of the teaching-learning process. The teaching-learning process

is the heart and soul of schools. It forms the core of the “business of

education.” Therefore, this important activity must be done well if schools

are to be described as successful in achieving their goals. Students go to

school not simply to absorb information. They also have to be trained on

what to do with such information and how to apply what they learn to

real-life situations.

However, before teachers can be expected to facilitate the teaching-learning

process well, you fi rst need to help them refl ect on their beliefs and attitudes

about teaching and facilitation of learning. Why did they become teachers

in the fi rst place? What kind of teachers are they striving to become? What

beliefs about students and learning do they hold as important pillars in

providing instruction? Knowing their basic attitudes, beliefs, and practices

will give you a good opportunity to examine why they encounter certain

problems in the facilitation process. This is just like going back to their

teaching foundations or philosophies. Are you familiar with your teachers’

teaching philosophies? Whether you are familiar with the development of

a teaching philosophy or you simply need to refresh your memory, this

lesson is a good place for you to start.

Understanding the Facilitative

Teaching-Learning Process

LESSON

1


Through this lesson, you will learn how to prepare a statement of teaching

philosophy. You will also be able to determine the characteristics of a

facilitative teaching-learning process, know about the different teaching

styles, and how these can affect the teaching-learning process. Are you

now ready to know more about these important factors that can affect your

teachers’ performance as instructional providers? If you are, then read on.


After studying this lesson, you should be able to:

• Write your own teaching philosophy.

• Guide your teachers in writing their own teaching philosophies.

• Discuss the characteristics of a facilitative teaching-learning process.

• Differentiate the four teaching styles.

• Evaluate your teachers’ teaching styles.

Let’s Read

Read the two scenarios below carefully.

Teacher A

Mr. Kamulwat is a third-grade teacher in a primary school. He has been

teaching for fi ve years. He loves teaching and considers it his vocation.

He believes that students have their own unique abilities that he can

help develop by giving them opportunities to learn and practice their

skills. He feels that his students have as much to teach him as he them

so he encourages his students to ask questions and plan activities that

will enable them to apply new lessons to practical situations. He gives

his students opportunities to work in groups and come up with projects

that further explore their new skills.

As Mr. Kamulwat encourages his students to discover their potentials,

he also makes sure that he rediscovers himself by enrolling in

professional development courses available for teachers.


Teacher B

Mrs. Prinsakorn is a teacher in a primary school. She believes that

students are like empty vessels that need to be fi lled with knowledge.

Indeed, it is her role as a teacher to provide them with as much knowledge

as possible. Her preferred teaching method is lecturing. She gives long

assignments to her students to encourage them to think more. She

believes in the authority of the educator. Hence, she has the tendency

to be very strict in class. She frowns upon noise and unnecessary class

activities. Mrs. Prinsakorn follows a carefully prepared lesson plan

every time. She expects her students to listen to her attentively when

she gives lectures. She asks them questions to make sure they learned

the concepts she presented. She views students as passive receivers of

information. She looks at her role in education much like a driver does

his/her passengers. And, of course, in that situation, the driver is given

total control.

Just as Mrs. Prinsakorn meticulously plans her lessons and sticks

to the plan, she has carefully laid out her own career path targeting

promotions in the school.

In whose class would you rather belong — Mr. Kamulwat’s or

Mrs. Prinsakorn’s? Why? Who provides students more opportunities to

really think and process rather than just absorb information? How are their

teaching approaches different?


Let’s Try This (Activity 1.1)

Let us compare the two teachers. Go back to the stories and fi ll out the

columns of the table below.

Feedback

Compare your answers with those in the Key to Correction on page 112. If

your answers are similar to mine, that’s great! If you have other answers,

share and discuss them with your co-learners and Flexible Learning Tutor.

Teaching Beliefs Components Mr. Kamulwat Mrs. Prinsakorn

Beliefs about good teaching

Preferred class activities

Beliefs about students

Learning goals for students

Goals for self-improvement



Answer the questions below about Mr. Kamulwat and Mrs. Prinsakorn

before proceeding to the next part of the lesson.

1. Who would you prefer to be a teacher in your school? Why?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2. Why are the two teachers’ teaching beliefs and attitudes different?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

3. Why is it important to examine a teacher’s beliefs and attitudes?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________


Feedback

The previous activity shows you that teachers teach differently using

different techniques and approaches because they have different teaching

philosophies. A teaching philosophy describes teachers’ beliefs about how

learning occurs, how they can intervene in this process, what chief goals

they have for students, and what actions they should take to implement

their intentions for students.

Teachers’ beliefs and attitudes are different from one another’s because they

are unique individuals who have different experiences. These experiences,

whether acquired from their training as teachers or when they were still

students, form the foundation of their teaching attitudes and activities. For

a school head like you, helping teachers examine and refl ect on their beliefs

and attitudes about teaching-learning is an important step toward making

them more effective providers of instruction.

Let’s Think About This

Do you know the functions or purposes of a teaching philosophy? Write

your ideas on the lines below.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Read on to check your answer.


Let’s Read

What Is a Teaching Philosophy?

The activity shows you that teachers teach differently using different

techniques and approaches because they have different teaching

philosophies. A teaching philosophy is a set of beliefs that a teacher values

as well as uses as a guide in instructional activities. It encompasses the

teacher’s beliefs about students, learning, teaching, and his/her role as an

educator.

Purposes

A teacher’s statement of teaching philosophy does several things. It can:

- Clarify what the teacher believes good teaching to be.

- Explain what the teacher hopes to achieve in teaching.

- Contextualize his/her teaching strategies and other evidence of

teaching effectiveness.

- Promote and provide an opportunity for refl ection and professional

development in teaching.

- Provide a means for others to learn from the teacher’s experiences.

Components

A statement of teaching philosophy is composed of the following

components:

- The teacher’s defi nition of good teaching, with an explanation of

this particular defi nition.

- A discussion of teaching methods: how does the teacher implement

his/her defi nition of good teaching?

- A discussion of evaluation and assessment methods used and a

description of how they support the teacher’s defi nition of good

teaching.

- The teacher’s description of his/her students, and their most

important learning goals and challenges.


- The teacher’s description of his/her teaching goals: with what

content, skills, or values should students leave his/her classroom?

- What are the teacher’s goals for improving his/her teaching?

Before you can help your teachers determine their teaching philosophy, it

would be best if you yourself could undergo the experience of defi ning your

own teaching philosophy and writing your own philosophy statement. Are

you ready to do that now? Then, proceed to the next activity.


How to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Write your own statement of teaching philosophy by following the format

below and the 10 steps to completion suggested by Pratt & Collins (2001).

Format

- Your statement of teaching philosophy should be as concise as

possible: 1-2 pages single spaced (the document may be slightly

longer if it includes information on specifi c teaching strategies).

- Include generous white spaces between paragraphs to allow for

ease of reading and to provide space for comments.

- Write in a personal, relatively informal tone, usually in the fi rst

person. Sometimes, mentioning the names of scholars who have

been particularly infl uential to your teaching can be valuable.

10 Steps to Completion

1. Identify one or two of your most effective teaching methods. Why

are these methods effective?

2. Jot down what you know about your students and how they

learn.


3. Review some of your teaching materials (lesson plans,

assignments). What are their strengths? How would you improve

them?

4. Consider some of the issues that shape your teaching: What do

you hope will be the result of your teaching?

What school factors affect the way you teach? What were some

critical moments or experiences for you as a teacher? How do you

know that a teaching activity or a course has been successful?

Consider how these issues are connected.

5. Do your teaching materials refl ect your understanding of your

students and their needs? Do you derive your teaching goals

from a positive or negative experience with particular teaching

activities?

6. Using these notes and refl ections, write a draft of your philosophy

statement in narrative form.

7. What evidence do you have of your teaching effectiveness

(teaching materials, feedback from students and colleagues)? Does

this evidence refl ect what you have identifi ed as your strengths

and priorities as a teacher?

8. Re-write the philosophy statement, taking into account your

evidence of teaching effectiveness.

9. Have someone else read the statement.

10. Re-write the philosophy statement a second time, incorporating

feedback from others.

Use these ten (10) steps to help guide you in preparing your own teaching

philosophy statement. Write your teaching philosophy statement on a

separate piece of paper or in your learning journal. Share your teaching

philosophy statement with your co-learners and Flexible Learning Tutor

for feedback.



Now that you have successfully written your statement of teaching

philosophy, it’s time for you to share the knowledge and skill with your

teachers.

Call the teachers to a meeting. Discuss with them what you learned about

teaching philosophy. Encourage them to ask questions, and then ask them

to prepare their own statements of teaching philosophy. Provide them with

a copy of the format and the 10 Steps to Completion.

After your teachers have written their statements of teaching philosophy,

ask two of them to volunteer to present their outputs before the group.

Provide positive feedback and encouragement and ask the other teachers

to do the same. Ask all the teachers to include their statements of teaching

philosophy in their teaching dossier. A teaching dossier is a fi ve- to eight-page

document with appropriate appendices. It is an opportunity to document

and present teaching achievements both for self-assessment and for review

and interpretation by others who make personnel decisions (SEAMEO

INNOTECH, 2010).

Review the statements of teaching philosophy of your teachers. What can

you say about them in relation to the educational goals of your school?

Write your insights on the space provided.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________



What Is Facilitative Teaching?

It is well known that learners differ from one another. They come from

diverse cultural backgrounds and they have a wide range of learning

needs. Some may have challenging physical, mental, and social problems.

Others may not be strongly motivated to learn. Learners also tend to vary

signifi cantly in the degree to which they are willing to engage in self-directed

learning by comparison with learning under close teacher guidance. They

also differ in how much they prefer to learn using a hands-on approach as

opposed to learning through listening and reading. Correspondingly, some

teachers may not possess the facilitation skills needed to deal with learners

of diverse learning styles and preferences.

This scenario calls for the intervention of a school head like you. As an

instructional leader, your guidance to your teachers on good teaching for

diverse students is crucial. Good teaching is now understood to involve a

process of facilitating learning rather than being the simple transmission of

knowledge from the teacher to the learner.

What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase “facilitative teaching”?

What roles should teachers take as facilitative teachers? Write your answers

on the space below:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________


Facilitative teaching is teaching that guides, instigates, and motivates

students to learn. It uses learner-centered teaching-learning practices,

instead of teacher-centered ones. As such, the teacher is the facilitator

rather than the source of learning. The facilitative teacher effectively

implements appropriate instructional strategies and creates a positive

learning environment in the classroom (Methodist University, 2010). The

box below describes the roles of facilitative teachers.

Let’s Read

Roles and Behaviors of Facilitative Teachers

The teachers in your school play a crucial role in facilitating the teaching-

learning process. The box below describes their tasks as facilitative teachers

(Smith & Blake, 2005).

Roles of Facilitative Teachers

1. Provide a meaningful context for learning where lessons are

framed by the context of the students’ life situations.

2. Encourage ‘hands on’ and interactive approaches to learning

activities to allow learners to think about and apply concepts

learned.

3. Establish learning outcomes that are clear in their intent to

achieve ‘work-readiness’ for learners.

4. Give learners the opportunity to collaborate and negotiate in

determining their learning and assessment processes.

5. Understand learners as ‘co-producers’ of new knowledge and

skills.

6. Recognize that the prior learning and life experiences of learners

are valuable foundations for constructing new knowledge and

skill sets.

7. Use fl exible teaching approaches that address the different

learning styles of students.

8. Value the social interactions involved with learning in groups.


The facilitative teacher functions enumerated can be effectively performed

when teachers possess the following characteristics and practice the

corresponding teacher behaviors (Methodist University, 2010).

Characteristics and Behaviors of Facilitative Teachers

1. Teacher Characteristic: ATTENTIVE

Teacher Behaviors:

• Maintains eye contact

• Listens actively

• Demonstrates awareness of verbal and non-verbal behaviors

• Monitors student activity

• Monitors progress and provides feedback for all students

2. Teacher Characteristic: GENUINE

Teacher Behaviors:

• Is honest in interpersonal relationships

• Displays a real concern and caring for the student

3. Teacher Characteristic: UNDERSTANDING

Teacher Behaviors:

• Demonstrates sensitivity and responsiveness to students’

personal ideas


needs


interests


feelings


diverse cultural backgrounds


4. Teacher Characteristic: RESPECTFUL

Teacher Behaviors:

• Values each student as being unique

• Shows a positive regard for each student

• Accepts student’s feelings

• Shows politeness to students, even when handling

misbehavior.

5. Teacher Characteristic: KNOWLEDGEABLE

Teacher Behaviors:

Content Knowledge

• Demonstrates current knowledge of subject matter

• Identifi es concepts, facts and/or skills basic to the content

area(s)

• Utilizes outside resources pertaining to their fi eld

• Follows clear, concise objectives

• Provides appropriate instructional opportunities adapted to

diverse learners

Pedagogy Knowledge

• Facilitates student learning through presentation of the

content in clear and meaningful ways

• Utilizes a variety of strategies, including technology, to

communicate subject matter

• Keeps students actively engaged

• Asks high level questions to elicit critical thinking, problem

solving, and performance skills

• Accurately assesses and analyzes student learning


6. Teacher Characteristic: COMMUNICATIVE:

Teacher Behaviors:

• Interacts positively with students including active listening

• Speaks and writes articulately using the language of

instruction

• Integrates multiple technological approaches

• Provides clear and precise directions that students can easily

understand

• Recognizes and builds upon teachable moments


Are there teachers in your school who already demonstrate the qualities and

behaviors of facilitative teachers? If there are, have you been supporting

them? What can you do to nurture their facilitative teaching skills? Write

a brief refl ection about this in the space provided.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________


Let’s Read

Roles of the Principal in Supporting Facilitative Teaching-Learning

If you are to nurture the facilitative teaching skills of your teachers, it is

crucial that you, as school head, support their student-centered approach.

Here are some of the things you can do to promote and sustain the exercise

of facilitative teaching in your school [Power & Boutilier (2009); Blase &

Blasé (2000)]:

1. Create a climate of openness to creativity, inquiry, and

innovativeness. Invite teachers and students to contribute ideas

and solutions to school problems and challenges. Appreciate the

worth of their ideas and opinions.

2. Know and understand the theories of human learning so that they

may serve as a resource in your understanding of how to enhance

instructional effectiveness.

3. Model effective facilitative teaching skills.

4. Inspire teachers to adopt innovative pedagogies in the classroom

by supporting teachers’ instructional methods, allocating resources

and materials, visiting classrooms frequently, providing feedback

on instructional methods and techniques, and using data to focus

attention on improving the curriculum and instruction.

5. Make suggestions and give feedback and praise for effective

teaching.

6. Support collaboration and provide professional development

opportunities and capacity-building activities at school so that

new and existing teachers can support each other and have

refl ective discussions about their practice throughout the year.

7. Build a trusting relationship by assuring teachers that you are an

accessible on-site instructional resource.


8. Clarify to your teachers “that the school head’s role is not to

evaluate, but to assist teachers in refl ecting upon their work,

learning new practices, analyzing student work and assessments,

and designing more effective lessons”.

9. Allocate time for teachers to refl ect on their successes to give them

more perspective on their growth and increase their motivation to

further improve instructional practices.

10. Show compassion and cheer people on.

11. Accentuate the positive.

12. Engage the teachers in refl ective questioning.

13. Validate the good things that are happening in their classrooms as

part of best practices.

Working through Resistance to Change

As a leader of change, you have to keep in mind that there will always

be resistant teachers who will cause you to refl ect and to question your

actions in the process. Regardless of whether the teachers are completely

on board with new initiatives or not, you, as school head, must continue to

work toward engaging individual teachers in an effort to improve student

learning. Building upon positive working relationships to address various

aspects of teaching-learning will enable you to work your way through.

You will also be able to model facilitative teaching and foster respect and

understanding if you appreciate not only their teaching philosophies, but

also the resulting teaching styles.


Let’s Study

Teaching Styles

Do you know that your teachers’ teaching philosophies infl uence their

teaching styles? A teaching style is the way in which teaching tasks are

chosen and carried out (Mohanna, Chambers & Wall, 2008). Some teachers

choose to have more teacher-focused activities such as giving lectures and

minimizing independent work. Others prefer to draw out information

from their students after engaging them in group activities. Teaching

styles determine the effectiveness of teachers in promoting learning,

enhancing positive attitudes about learning, and improving self-esteem.

They are determined by teachers’ personal characteristics, experiences, and

knowledge of the teaching-learning process and teaching philosophies.

Do you know your teachers’ teaching styles? Before you go and fi nd out

theirs, let us fi rst see what your own teaching style is.



What is your dominant teaching style? Accomplish the following Teaching

Style Self-Evaluation to fi nd out.

Teaching Style Self-Evaluation

[Adapted and used with permission from Jennifer Stein (2001)]

This assessment will help you determine your teaching style. Answer

the following questions by placing a check mark (p) on the space before

the letter that corresponds to your answer. You are allowed to choose

only one answer for each question.

1. What do you think of your teaching style?

a. It may lead to an infl exibility for managing the concerns of

students.

b. It may cause students to feel inadequate when they can’t emulate

your example.

c. It works well for most students but is very time–consuming.

d. It may leave students feeling anxious about their ability to meet

your expectations.

2. Which of the following do you like to use when evaluating

student-learning?

a. teacher-made tests

b. student self-assessment tests

c. performance-based criteria

d. problem-solving and critical thinking

3. When planning lessons, what do you prefer to have?

a. whole class lessons

b. role-playing

c. peer-tutoring

d. brainstorming


4. When you teach, your instructional time predominantly involves -

a. lectures

b. demonstrations

c. fi lms/videos

d. class discussion/brainstorming

5. You believe in teaching by -

a. being the source of information

b. personal example and modelling behavior

c. emphasizing student-teacher interactions

d. being a resource person as needed by the student

6. One of your goals is to have your student -

a. work within the learning plan

b. observe and emulate what was observed

c. work independently and under his/her own initiative, while

you provide as much support and encouragement as possible.

d. able to work in an autonomous manner while you serve as a

resource person available upon request.

7. One advantage of your teaching style is that it -

a. focuses on clear expectations

b. emphasizes direct observation

c. allows students personal fl exibility

d. helps students see themselves as independent learners

8. Assignments given to students are usually based on -

a. your personal preferences or on course materials you defi ne as

relevant and important for students to learn

b. a sequence of steps leading to mastery of accepted method

(steps) for performing a task or skill

c. a student portfolio or learning log which has a self–assessment

component

d. problem-solving based on research of course material


9. Your teaching style develops a rhythm which contains -

a. Four steps: content selection, presentation/reception, refl ection,

application

b. Three steps: selection, skill development, mastery performance

c. Five steps: creating awareness, collecting data, choosing

innovation, implementing a plan, reviewing results

d. More steps: ranging from posing and refl ecting on a problem,

skill development exercises to interim evaluation, learner

responses, and development of solutions

What is your dominant teaching style?

Count the number of times you checked each letter and write the frequency

counts on the table below. Each letter corresponds to a teaching style. A

is for the formal authority teaching style, B is for the demonstrator or

personal model teaching style, C for facilitator teaching style, and D for

the delegator teaching style.

If you have the most number of check marks on A, you have a formal

authority teaching style. Review the A items in the checklist. What does it

mean to have a formal authority teaching style? Write your answer on the

space below.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Teaching Style Number of Check Marks

A (Formal Authority)

B (Demonstrator or Personal Model)

C (Facilitator)

D (Delegator)


Do you have most check marks on B? Then, you are practicing a demonstrator

or personal model teaching style. Read the B items in the checklist again.

What does it mean to have a demonstrator or personal model teaching

style?

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Are your check marks mostly on C? Then, your teaching style is that of a

facilitator. Read the C items in the checklist again. Any idea about what a

facilitator teaching style is? Write your answer below.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Did you score highest on D? Then, you are a delegator in terms of teaching

style. Review the D items in the checklist. What is the delegator teaching

style?

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Are there letters where you have an equally high score? If yes, then you are

adapting a mix in some elements of other styles. Is it possible for a teacher

to be using two or more teaching styles? Read on to fi nd out.


Let’s Read

Teaching Style Categories

As you have learned in the previous activity, there are four teaching style

categories: formal authority, demonstrator, facilitator, and delegator. Let

us get to know more about each one based on the work of Stein, Steeves,

& Mitsuhashi (2001).

Formal Authority

Teachers who have a formal authority teaching style tend to focus on

content. This style is generally teacher-centered, where the teacher feels

responsible for providing and controlling the fl ow of the content and the

student is expected to receive the content.

One type of statement made by an instructor with this teaching style is “I

am the fl ashlight for my students, I illuminate the content and materials

so that my students can see the importance of the material and appreciate

the discipline.”Teachers with this teaching style are not so much concerned

with building relationships with their students or enabling students to

form relationships with other students. This type of teacher doesn’t usually

require much student participation in class. This teaching style is often

called the “Sage on the stage” model.

Demonstrator or Personal Model

Teachers who have a demonstrator or personal model teaching style tend

to run teacher-centered classes with an emphasis on demonstration and

modelling. This type of teacher acts as a role model by demonstrating skills

and processes and then as a coach/guide in helping students develop and

apply these skills and knowledge; thus, the teacher is called a “Guide on the

side.”

A teacher with this type of teaching style might comment: “I show my

students how to do a task properly or work through a problem and then

I’ll help them master the task or problem solution. It’s important that my

students can solve similar problems independently by using and adapting

demonstrated methods.”


Instructors with this teaching style are interested in encouraging student

participation and adapting their presentation to include various learning

styles. Students are expected to take some responsibility for learning what

they need to know and for asking for help when they don’t understand

something.

Facilitator

Teachers who have a facilitator model teaching style tend to focus on

activities. This teaching style emphasizes student-centered learning and

there is much more responsibility placed on the students to take the

initiative for meeting the demands of various learning tasks.

This type of teaching style works best for students who are comfortable

with independent learning and who can actively participate and collaborate

with other students.

Teachers typically design group activities that necessitate active learning,

student-to-student collaboration, and problem solving. This type of teacher,

who is also a “Guide on the side” like the demonstrator, will often try to

design learning situations and activities that require student processing

and application of course content in creative and original ways.

Delegator

Teachers who have a delegator teaching style tend to place much control

and responsibility for learning on individuals or groups of students.

This type of teacher, who is also a “Guide on the side,” will often give students a

choice in designing and implementing their own complex learning projects

and will act in a consultative role.

Students are often asked to work independently or in groups and must

be able to maintain motivation and focus for complex projects. Students

working in this type of setting learn more than just course specifi c topics as

they also must be able to work effectively in group situations and manage

various interpersonal roles.



The All-Round Flexible and Adaptable Teacher

Given the four teaching style categories, is it possible for a teacher to be using

two or more teaching styles? The answer is YES. Such a teacher is called the

“All-Round Flexible and Adaptable Teacher”. Mohanna, Chambers, & Wall

(2008) describe this teacher as one who “can use lots of different skills, can

teach both peers and juniors, and is very aware of the whole environment

in relation to teaching and the learners.”

The all-round fl exible and adaptable teacher is an effective teacher who can

adapt to any of the four teaching styles depending on the subject matter

and other variables. This implies that as an instructional leader, you need

to help your teachers learn and appreciate the different teaching styles and

adopt two or more for their teaching repertoire. But before you can do this,

you will need to assist them in fi nding out their own teaching styles.


Now, it’s time for you to share your knowledge about teaching styles with

your teachers. Doing so will enable them to refl ect deeply on their teaching

preferences. To do this, ask your teachers to another meeting. Give them a

copy each of the Teaching Style Self-Evaluation and ask them to accomplish

it. After they have completed the questionnaire, ask them to write a short

refl ection about their teaching styles. Ask two volunteers to share their

teaching styles evaluation result with the group. Include the teaching styles

evaluation in their teaching dossier.

What are your teachers’ teaching styles? Write the number of teachers

falling under the specifi c teaching styles on the space provided. Classify

teachers with two or more teaching styles as the all-round fl exible and

adaptable teacher.

Formal authority ______ Facilitator ______

Demonstrator ______ All-round fl exible and

adaptable teacher ______Delegator ______


Feedback

The result of this exercise shows you the variety of your teachers in terms

of teaching styles. As an instructional leader, you are the resource provider

not only of facilitators but also of delegators, demonstrators, and formal

authorities. Knowing that effective teachers adopt two or more teaching

styles, you have the important role of helping teachers understand that

they may have to work on improving their least preferred teaching styles in

order to be more fl exible learner-centered teachers, and adapt their teaching

styles to their learners.

Let’s Read

Teaching Techniques That Will Benefi t All Learners

Although not all your teachers may be the all-around fl exible and adaptable

teacher type, you can help them meet the needs of all the students in any

class by asking them to include several, if not all, of the following techniques

(Engineering, 2009).

Teaching Techniques That Will Benefi t All Learners

• Motivate learning by relating the material being presented to what

has come before and what is still to come in the same class subject,

to material in other subjects, and particularly to the students’

personal experience.

• Provide a balance of concrete information (facts, data, real

experiments, and their results) and abstract concepts (principles,

theories, and mathematical models).

• Balance problem-solving methods with simple knowledge-level

methods.

• Use pictures, schematics, graphs, and simple sketches liberally

before, during, and after the presentation of verbal material. If

possible, show fi lms or provide demonstrations and hands-on

activities.


• Use technology-assisted instruction, if possible.

• Do not fi ll every minute of class time lecturing and writing on the

board. Provide intervals - however brief - for students to think

about what they have been told.

• Provide opportunities for students to do something active besides

writing notes. Small-group brainstorming activities that take no

more than fi ve minutes are extremely effective for this purpose.

• Assign some drill exercises but do not overdo them. Also provide

some open-ended problems and exercises that call for analysis

and synthesis.

• Give students the option of cooperating on homework assignments

to the greatest possible extent.

• Applaud creative solutions, even incorrect ones.

• Talk to students about learning styles to reassure them that their

academic diffi culties may not all be due to personal inadequacies.

Explaining to learners how they learn most effi ciently may be an

important step in helping them reshape their learning experiences

so that they can be successful.

Wow! This module has just walked you through important knowledge, skills,

and values that you can share with your teachers on how to state a teaching

philosophy, conduct facilitative teaching, and evaluate their teaching styles.

Your understanding of these important inputs in the teaching-learning

process will come in handy when you study the succeeding lessons that

focus on effective teaching-learning and communication in teaching.


Let’s Remember

In this lesson, you learned that:

• A teaching philosophy is a set of beliefs that a teacher values

and uses as a guide in teaching. It encompasses the teacher’s

beliefs about students, teaching, and the teacher’s role as an

educator. It is developed by refl ecting on one’s basic beliefs about

students, teaching-learning, and the teacher’s role in an academic

institution. A teaching philosophy is not permanent. As a teacher

changes, his/ her philosophy also changes. A school head must,

therefore, guide the teachers in aligning their own philosophies

with the school’s instructional goals.

• Facilitative learning is a learner-centered approach to the teaching

learning process.

• The characteristics of facilitative teaching are:

1. Provides a meaningful context for learning where lessons

are framed by the context of the students’ life situations.

2. Encourages ‘hands on’ and interactive approaches to

learning activities to allow learners to think about and

apply concepts learned.

3. Establishes learning outcomes that are clear in their intent to

achieve ‘work-readiness’ for learners.

4. Gives learners the opportunity to collaborate and negotiate

in determining their learning and assessment processes.

5. Understands learners as ‘co-producers’ of new knowledge

and skills.

6. Recognizes that the prior learning and life experiences of

learners are valuable foundations for constructing new

knowledge and skill sets.

7. Uses fl exible teaching approaches that address the different

learning styles of students.

8. Values the social interactions involved with learning in

groups.


• A teaching style is the way in which teaching tasks are chosen

and carried out. They are determined by teachers’ personal

characteristics, experiences, and knowledge of the teaching-

learning process and teaching philosophies.

There are four teaching style categories:

i) Formal Authority – This style is generally teacher-centered,

where the teacher feels responsible for providing and controlling

the fl ow of the content and the student is expected to receive the

content.

ii) Demonstrator or Personal Model – This style is also teacher-

centered with emphasis on demonstration and modelling. The

teacher using this style acts as a role model by demonstrating

skills and processes and then as a coach/guide in helping students

develop and apply these skills and knowledge. Instructors

with this teaching style are interested in encouraging student

participation and adapting their presentation to various learning

styles. Students are expected to take some responsibility for

learning what they need to know and for asking for help when

they don’t understand something.

iii) Facilitator – This teaching style focuses on activities, emphasizes

student-centered learning, and places more responsibility on the

students to take the initiative for meeting the demands of various

learning tasks. This type of teaching style works best for students

who are comfortable with independent learning and who can

actively participate and collaborate with other students.

iv) Delegator – This style often gives students a choice in designing

and implementing their own complex learning projects and

will act in a consultative role. Students are often asked to work

independently or in groups and must be able to maintain

motivation and focus for complex projects. Students working in

this type of setting learn more than just course specifi c topics as

they also must be able to work effectively in group situations and

manage various interpersonal roles.


• The All-Round Flexible and Adaptable Teacher is a competent

teacher who assumes a combination of these different theoretical

positions. He/She is able to adjust the teaching approach to

students’ needs.

• An effective teacher is responsive to the unique needs of students

and is able to develop instructional activities that address such

needs. This teacher uses teaching techniques that can benefi t all

learners.

• As a school head, you play an important role in helping your

teachers write their statement of teaching philosophy. You also

need to support them in practicing facilitative teaching and in

applying teaching styles and techniques that will lead to effective

student learning.

How Much Have You Learned From This Lesson?

To see how much you have learned from this lesson, try and complete the

following lesson review test.

Part 1.

Read the following critical incident then answer the questions that follow.

Critical Incident

The class was discussing a short story on friendship and social skills.

Earlier, the teacher announced that the objective of the discussion was for

the students to come up with general conclusions on social skills. Seated

in chairs arranged as a letter “U”, the students contributed ideas without

being called upon. As they spoke, the teacher wrote their comments on

the board. She did not speak but simply focused on getting the essence

of the contributions noted down. After about ten minutes, she said to

the class, “Where are we? We need to think about this exchange and see

if we can draw some general conclusions out of it. Please review the

notes I have made on the board.” After several minutes of silence, she

said, “Does anybody see any connections between these comments?”

As the students ventured comments, she drew lines and circles, added

numbers, occasionally revising and sometimes erasing. Students were


directing their comments and responses to each other. Gradually, some

general conclusions emerged, and she asked the students to try forming

them into a phrase or sentence. She asked three students to write their

answers on the board. The class proceeded to discuss the merits of each.

The one they fi nally came up with integrated several of their individual

ideas. [Adapted from Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to

Practice (Weimer, 2002)]

1. How would you describe the teacher’s role in the class activity

presented?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2. How about the students’ role?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

3. What do you think was the general atmosphere in the class during the

discussion?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

4. Did the teacher in the critical incident demonstrate facilitative teaching?

If your answer is “no”, explain your answer. If “yes”, what characteristics

of facilitative teaching were demonstrated? Support your answer.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________


Part 2

Answer the following questions using the spaces provided for each.

1. What is a teaching philosophy and why is it important?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2. A teaching style is basically the way a teacher teaches. It refl ects his/her

teaching philosophy. Identify what teaching style is being described by

the following statements.

_____________________ This teaching style emphasizes student-

centered learning activities. This type allows a teacher to design learning

situations and activities that require student processing and application

of course content in creative and original ways.

_____________________This teaching style doesn’t usually require much

student participation in class. It is often called the “Sage on the stage”

model.

_____________________ A teacher with this type of teaching style might

comment: “I show my students how to properly do a task or work through

a problem and then help them master the task or problem solution. It’s

important that my students can solve independently similar problems

by using and adapting demonstrated methods.”

_____________________Teachers who have this teaching style tend to

place much control and responsibility for learning on individuals or

groups of students. Students are often asked to work independently

or in groups and must be able to maintain motivation and focus for

complex projects.


3. Do you agree with this statement: “A competent teacher assumes

a combination of the four different teaching styles.” Explain your

answer.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

4. It is expected that the teachers in your school have different teaching

styles and your students have various learning needs. Given this

scenario, how will you help your teachers deliver effective instruction?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Feedback

Compare your answers with those in the Key to Correction on pages 113–117.

If your answers are similar to mine, that’s great! If not, review those where

you made mistakes, then revise them before proceeding to the next lesson.

Congratulations for completing Lesson 1 of this module which focused on

exploring teaching philosophies and teaching styles. In Lesson 2, you will

study the different learning styles of students and learn the strategies for

enhancing the teaching-learning process in your school. Good Luck!


Toward Eff ective

Teaching-Learning

LESSON

2

What Is This Lesson About?

School heads are expected to provide instructional leadership and help

teachers teach effectively. Being an instructional leader involves fi nding

ways to address the learning needs of both students and teachers. You may

have already realized by now that like fl owers in a fi eld, no two students

are exactly alike. The same is true with teachers. Each teacher has his/her

own unique abilities, personal needs, and, as you learned from the previous

lesson, teaching philosophies and teaching styles. Students, too, have varied

motivations for going to school and capability to learn in different ways.

Effective instruction is one wherein you can appreciate the uniqueness of

each learner, deliver knowledge, and develop skills and desirable values in

ways that address their needs and maximize their abilities.

In Lesson 1, you learned what a teaching philosophy is, how it is created,

and how it affects the way a teacher teaches. You also learned about the

characteristics of facilitative teachers and the four categories of teaching

styles. This lesson will now get down to the business of the actual teaching

itself by answering the question, “How can teachers improve the way they

teach?”

For teaching to be effective, all learning processes must be considered. All

students do not think and learn in the same way. Some learn better through

listening while others through seeing. Their motivators also differ. Some

are encouraged by verbal praise and tangible incentives. Others are more

motivated by their own inner drives to succeed. This lesson will familiarize

you with concepts that enhance the teaching-learning process. It will


start by focusing on students’ learning processes and their motivators for

learning. Later on, it will discuss how you can help your teachers modify

their teaching strategies to deliver more effective instruction.

Do you want to know more about how an instructional leader like you can

guide teachers in improving the teaching-learning process? Read on if you

do.



• Describe the different learning styles.

• Identify the factors that affect learning.

• Describe some common myths about learning.

• Differentiate intrinsic from extrinsic motivation.

• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using verbal praise as

an educational motivator.

• Apply the principles of motivation to the learning process.

• Give examples of strategies and models that can enhance

teaching-learning.


Read the critical incident below.

Critical Incident

Mr. Kamulwat is worried about a student named Kim. Kim showed

promise as a learner. However, she did not do well in class activities

that did not involve pictures or stories conveying vivid images. She did

poorly in math and science, but when asked to draw pictures, she did

the task gladly. Whenever she asked questions, she tried to relate a new

concept to something she had seen before. Mr. Kamulwat recognized

that Kim seemed to have a different way of learning. So he tried his best

to provide Kim with opportunities to draw and relate new learnings

with images. He noticed that this strategy seemed to work. However, he

also noticed that this approach did not work well for his other student,


Thuy. Thuy seemed to prefer activities that involved movements. He

liked going out to the schoolyard and particularly loved role-playing

games. Whenever he heard a new concept from Mr. Kamulwat, Thuy

wanted him to come up with physical activities such as games or any

task that required him to move around. Clearly, Thuy was different

from Kim.

Mr. Kamulwat is determined to provide these two students with the

opportunities to learn through activities that address their personal

learning styles.

Answer the following questions using the spaces provided.

1. How would you describe Kim’s preferred way of learning?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2. If you are to describe Thuy’s learning style, how would you do so?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

3. What should Mr. Kamulwat do to address their different

learning styles?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Read on to fi nd out the answers to the preceding questions.


Let’s Study

Learning Styles

Students like Kim and Thuy differ in terms of capacity to learn. Aside from

this or maybe because of it, they also differ in terms of how they learn.

This well-accepted fact has enormous implications for classroom teaching.

Since students learn differently, they should also be taught in ways that

best support their unique ways of learning.

What are learning styles? According to Kolb and Kolb (2005), learning style

describes individual differences in approaches to or ways of learning. A

person’s learning style is a biologically and developmentally imposed set

of personal characteristics that make the same teaching method effective for

some and ineffective for others. What works for Kim will not necessarily

work for Thuy. Like signatures or thumbprints, each learner has a personal

learning style. And if you accept the concept of having different learning

styles, then you must also accept that different approaches to teaching help

students develop their skills because they have unique strengths.

There are many ways to classify learning styles. One of the most popular is

classifying them based on a learner’s sensory preference. The most familiar

concept of learning style involves sensory preferences and how these affect

learning. These preferences lead to different learning styles, which are:

• Visual

• Auditory

• Kinesthetic

• Tactile

In the simplest sense, visual learners best acquire new information by sight.

Kim is a visual learner. She prefers the show-and-tell approach. She wants

demonstrations and assignments rather than mere topic discussions. Visual

learners often ignore verbal directions or fi nd them uninteresting. Hence,

teachers like Mr. Kamulwat must provide opportunities for translating

learning into visual images to help this type of students learn well.


An auditory learner, on the other hand, needs to hear content explanations.

He/She appreciates and learns faster through songs and stories. He/She

also fi nds it easier to learn through sounds.

A tactile learner learns best by manipulating materials. He/She requires

experimentation and hands-on activities to learn well. He/She needs to

touch, feel, and experience.

Kinesthetic learners like Thuy prefer activities that involve their whole

bodies. Learners like him prefer dramatizations, pantomimes, and fi eldtrips.

They may often be restless in class. Role-playing and interactive games are

good strategies to help them learn.


What kind of learner are you? What is your learning style? Recall the

time when you were still in primary school. What activities did you

prefer over others? What did your teachers do before that best triggered

your interest?

Let’s Read

Aside from learning styles based on the different sensory preferences,

learning styles may also be based on other individual preferences. Students

can also be classifi ed based on their individual preferences for:

• Sound levels

• Lighting

• Temperature levels

• Seating arrangements

• Mobility

• Group sizes

• Types of learning activities

• Eating or drinking while concentrating

• Time preferences


These variables allow for different ways of classifying students’ learning

styles. For example, based on preferences for sound levels, learners may

prefer total silence or hear background sounds/noises to concentrate. Have

you heard some students say, “I can study only when the television set is

turned on”? This refl ects a learning style that is specifi c for that student.

The basic principle applies to all the other variables. Can you think of

classifi cations based on lighting? How about seating arrangements? How

about group sizes? Learning styles research supports the different means

by which students learn. For example, there are existing researches that

document the effectiveness of small-group learning. Students from Grade

Three to Second Year tend to work better in small groups than either alone

or with the teacher (Shalaway, 2005).

Learning styles can also be classifi ed based on recognizing biological

differences among learners. Some learners may be “right brained,” others

“left brained.” According to Goethals (1985), left brain-dominant learners

are more analytic and inductive. They seem to learn in successive levels

using small steps leading to complete understanding of the topic. On the

other hand, right brain-dominant learners are more global and deductive.

This means that they are able to learn faster by obtaining meaning from a

broad concept before focusing on details.

In terms of other categorizations of learning styles, Kolb and Kolb (2005)

described two major differences in how people learn — how they perceive

situations and process information. To perceive new information, some

probe while some think and analyze. Some process by watching while

some do not.

McArthey (Kellough, 1994) described four other categories of learning styles

based on patterns of perceiving situations and processing information,

namely:

1. Imaginative learners: They perceive information concretely

and process it refl ectively. They learn well by listening to and

sharing with others while integrating others’ ideas with their

own experiences. They often have a diffi culty with traditional

teaching approaches.


2. Analytic learners: They perceive information abstractly and process it

refl ectively. They prefer sequential thinking, require details, and value

what experts have to offer. They do well in traditional classrooms.

3. Common sense learners: They process information abstractly and

actively. They enjoy practical and hands-on learning. They often

fi nd school frustrating because they do not see an immediate use for

learning.

4. Dynamic learners: They provide information concretely and process

it actively. They prefer hands-on learning and get excited with new

concepts and ideas. They like taking risks. Activities that are tedious

and sequential frustrate them.

Under what category is your learning style?


Think of your own cognitive activities as an adult. Imagine that you are

to start reading a nice book that you have been wanting to read for a long

time. Given a choice, where would you want to sit? Would you want music

to play in the background? How loud? How about the lighting? Would you

want someone else to be present in the room? Would you prefer to discuss

the book with a friend afterward? How about eating while reading?

What did this activity help you realize?

Let’s Read

Myths and Facts About Learning

You learned from the foregoing readings, discussions, and activities that

the concept of a ‘learning style’ is used to describe the preferred way, or

process, that a student uses to identify and integrate information. In other

words, the way a student seems to learn most often or most effectively is

called his or her learning style. It should be noted, however, that while

individuals vary in their preferred ways of learning, most people learn best

by actively working with new concepts and ideas, solving problems, asking


and answering questions, discussing, debating, brainstorming, researching,

and explaining. Successful teachers provide students with opportunities to

engage in these types of activities.

In light of this understanding of learning styles, let us fi nd out how well

you can identify commonly held fl awed beliefs or myths about learning

against facts. In the list below, write F on the blank if the statement is a fact

about learning. Write M if the statement is a myth about learning.

______ We must be sitting in a chair at all times in order to learn.

______ The person who does the most listening does the most learning.

______ The best way to teach is to give information in a well-planned lecture.

______ If we’d only listen, we’d remember more.

______ The more “serious” the learning is, the more we will remember.

______ Fun is not important to learning.

______ The only person who should be the “sage on the stage” is the expert in the

fi eld.

If you wrote M in all the statements, you are correct. Below are fl awed

beliefs or myths about learning and their corresponding facts (WGBH

Educational Foundation, 2006).

• Myth: We must be sitting in a chair at all times in order to learn.

Fact: Our ability to learn by experience diminishes in direct

proportion to the amount of time we spend sitting.

• Myth: The person who does the most listening does the most

learning.

Fact: The person doing the most talking, moving, or writing is doing

the most learning.

• Myth: The best way to teach is to give information in a well-planned

lecture.

Fact: We remember 10 to 20 percent of what we hear. If we want

someone to “hear” something, we lecture. If we want students to

“learn,” we need to work as a “guide on the side” and involve

them.


• Myth: If we’d only listen, we’d remember more.

Fact: We learn and remember 80 to 90 percent of what we do and

say. In order to learn anything well, we need to talk about it with

each other and do it a number of times.

• Myth: The more “serious” the learning is, the more we will

remember.

Fact: We learn and remember best when we are engaged and

enjoying what we’re doing.

• Myth: Fun is not important to learning.

Fact: Not only do we learn best and remember more when we enjoy

success at an appropriately challenging experience, but we also

become more willing to seek out other challenging experiences.

• Myth: The only person who should be the “sage on the stage” is the

expert in the fi eld.

Fact: We are all in the process of becoming experts in something.

The more we share our knowledge with others, the more we learn.



To fi nd out what your own learning style is, work on the questionnaire

that follows.

Learning Styles Inventory

[Adapted from Learning Styles Inventory by Wyman in Shalaway (1998)]

Instructions:

To fi nd out what learning style you prefer, encircle the numbers

corresponding to statements you agree with.

1. I prefer to listen to a book on audio tape rather than read it.

2. When putting something together, I always read directions fi rst.

3. I prefer reading to hearing a lecture.

4. When I am alone, I usually have music playing or I hum or sing.

5. I like playing sports more than reading books.

6. I can always tell directions like north and south no matter where I

am.

7. I love to write letters or in a journal.

8. When I talk, I like to say things like “I hear you,” “That sounds

good,” or “That rings a bell.”

9. My room desk, car, or house is usually disorganized.

10. I love working with my hands and building or making things.

11. I know most of the words of the songs I listen to.

12. When others are talking, I usually create images in my mind of what

they are saying.

13. I like sports and I think I am a pretty good athlete.

14. It’s easy for me to talk for long periods of time on the phone with

friends.

15. Without music, life isn’t any fun.

16. I am very uncomfortable with social groups and do not usually

strike up a conversation with almost anyone.


17. When looking at objects on paper, I can easily tell if they are the

same no matter which way they are turned.

18. I usually say things like “I feel I need to get a hand on it” or “Get a

grip.”

19. When I recall an experience, I usually see a picture of it in my

mind.

20. When I recall an experience, I mostly hear sounds and talk to myself

about it.

21. When I recall an experience, I remember mostly how I felt about it.

22. I like music more than art.

23. I often doodle when I am on the phone or in a meeting.

24. I prefer to act things out rather than write a report on them.

25. I like reading more than listening to stories.

26. I usually speak slowly.

27. I like talking better then writing.

28. My handwriting is not usually neat.

29. I generally use a fi nger to point when I read.

30. I can multiply and add quickly in my head.

31. I like spelling and I think I am a good speller.

32. I get very distracted if someone talks to me while the television is

on.

33. I like to write down instructions that people give me.

34. I can easily remember what people say.

35. I learn best by doing.

36. It’s hard for me to stay still very long.

Scoring to Determine Your Own Learning Style

Get your total score using the following guide to determine your learning

style.

Visual statements: 2, 3, 6, 7, 12, 17, 19, 23, 25, 30, 31, and 33

Auditory statements: 1, 4, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 20, 22, 27, 32, and 34

Kinesthetic statements: 5, 9, 10, 13, 18, 21, 24, 26, 28, 29, 35, and 36


Fill in the table below. If, for example, you encircled statement 1, place a

check mark (p) in row 1 under the Auditory column because according to

the guide above, statement 1 is an auditory statement. Do the same for each

statement number.

Statement Number Visual Auditory Kinesthetic

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

Total _______ Total _______ Total _______


To get your score in percentage form, add the number of check marks in

each column. Divide this by the total number of check marks in all three

columns. For example, if you got a score of 12 for the Visual column and

your total number of check marks is 30, then 12 ÷ 30 = 0.4. Multiply this

number by 100 to get your score in percentage format, that is, 0.4 x 100 =

40%.

Your percentage score for each style indicates your relative preferred

learning style/s. Compare your scores for each column. What is/are your

predominant learning style/s based on the test? Some people have very

strong preferences, even to the extent that they have little or no preference

in one or two of the styles. Other people have more evenly–balanced

preferences, with no particularly strong style. The point is simply to try to

understand as much as you can about yourself and your strengths (your

preferred style or styles), and then make best use of learning methods

which suit your strengths (your preferred style or styles).

Now that you know how to determine your learning style, it’s time to

introduce the self-test to your teachers. Afterwards, they can ask their

students to accomplish the same instrument. The more the teachers

understand their students’ learning styles, the better they can adapt their

instructions to accommodate as much learning preferences as possible. The

better students know the way they learn best, the greater their chances of

performing well in school.

What is your role as school head in this regard? Your responsibility is that

of guiding your teachers in preparing lesson plans using teaching styles

and techniques that would cover as many learning styles as possible.

Remember the teaching techniques that will benefi t all learners covered on

pages 35-36? Ask them to use those and see what difference they make.


Let’s Study

Do you want to know more about how your teachers can facilitate the

teaching-learning process effectively? This part of the lesson will introduce

you to the concept of motivation that you can share with your teachers and

its potent force in promoting and enhancing student learning.

Motivating Students to Learn

Refl ect on the statement below.

“Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but

direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may

be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the

genius of each.”

— Plato (Gura and Percy, 2005)

Plato, one of the great Greek philosophers, was Aristotle’s teacher, who

in turn, was Alexander the Great’s teacher. A great teacher, Plato, used

didactics or discussions as his primary form of teaching. He acknowledged

very early on that motivation was the key to learning and teaching. Do you

agree with him?

Now, read the story below.

There was once a young duck who was born with only one leg. All

the ducks in the pond laughed at him because of his peculiar state.

Nevertheless, he never gave up trying to learn how to swim with only

one leg. He started by learning how to fl oat. Next, he found a way to

use his wing to compensate for his lack of one leg. In spite of many

failed attempts, he was able to swim in the end. He also helped other

young ducks swim and this made him very happy. The other ducks

were amazed at what he was able to accomplish. One of the older ducks

said, “Young duck, I am impressed by your nice wing and how you were

able to use it to balance and swim.” The young duck replied, “Thank

you, sir, but I wish you could also see the determination behind it.”

What lesson does the simple story impart?


The story reminds us that in all cases, it is one’s personal desire or

motivation that underlies any successful attempt to learn. Like the young

duck, learners may also be initially encouraged to take risks. They may

need help to understand that sometimes, failing is a part of succeeding.

Like the young duck, a teacher needs to learn how to capitalize on a

student’s interest and curiosity as he/she models the learning process.

When the young duck fi nally succeeded in overcoming his limitations and

learned to swim as fast as the others, the fi rst thing he did was to share

his knowledge with the other ducks that needed his help. When others

did not listen, he simply showed them how he did it. This was how he

was able to slowly win converts. He inspired others through example. Like

him, teachers can help students achieve academic success through effective

instructional strategies. Teachers can motivate students to study and foster

their desire to learn. Their quest for knowledge and curiosity about the

world is part of their being human. Your role as school head is to feed that

curiosity and facilitate its development.

The following are some basic principles in motivating students to learn:

• Motivation comes naturally. Teachers have to keep students from

losing their motivation. People by nature are passionate, curious,

and intrigued. They like making theories about things, fi nding

patterns, making sense out of things, and connecting with others.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, some students stop

looking at the school as a place where their curiosity and abilities

are nurtured. School becomes just a place where they take tests,

learn how to conform, and give what is expected of them.

• Teachers need to model passion for learning. Passion is associated

with enthusiasm, caring, commitment, and hope, which are

themselves key characteristics of effectiveness in teaching. Teachers

who have a passion for teaching listen to what students say,

develop emotional closeness with them, demonstrate good sense

of humor, encourage students to learn in different ways, and create

learning environments that engage students and stimulate their

passion for learning. But passionate teachers cannot have all these

characteristics without learning these fi rst. Thus, passionate teachers

are also passionate learners. They keep themselves knowledgeable


about their subject and teaching strategies that work; thus, they are

able to facilitate confi dently their students’ learning. Such passion

for teaching and learning is strongly felt by the students, inspiring

their own passion and motivation.

Because a teacher’s passion for teaching and learning is a critical

ingredient in effective students learning, you, the school head, are

expected to promote and sustain such passion. Towards this, Day

(2004) suggests that the following infl uences on the teacher be taken

into consideration carefully by both the teachers and the school

head:

• Teacher’s understanding of self or ability to be refl ective

• Emphatic leadership

• Cultures of openness and collegiality among staff

• Professional learning and development opportunities integral

to the progress of the lives and work of individuals as well as

organizations.

• Properly structured learning experiences foster motivation. If

students are provided with opportunities to ask and seek answers

to interesting questions and encouraged to learn in their own ways,

they will be more motivated to succeed. Success in itself can be

highly motivating as well.

So what can your teachers do to become better at their work? Continue

reading to fi nd out.


Let’s Read

The Science and Art of Teaching

According to Shalaway (2005), the science of teaching refers to instructional

strategies that work based on research. Scholars call this a teacher’s

professional knowledge base. It is a set of principles that are unique and

essential to good teaching. It refers to teaching behaviors that make a

difference. Lastly, it refers to instructional strategies that teachers can

control and do something about to improve their skills. The following are

some examples of effective teaching strategies:

• Organizing instruction into integrated thematic units

• Using cooperative learning and group approaches

• Recognizing and teaching to multiple intelligences

• Accommodating individual learning styles

• Stressing thinking skills over plain memorization

• Harnessing the power of technology

• Practicing authentic assessment of student learning through

effective evaluation methods

• Motivating students to value learning

• Acknowledging the importance of active learning, engaged time,

and academic learning time

• Using wise group practices

• Encouraging student inquiry and initiative

This list of teaching strategies assumes a particular philosophy of teaching,

that is, “The teacher’s most important job is to teach students how to learn

and become independent thinkers.” Do you agree with this philosophy?

Said statement compels us to reexamine the basic role of teachers in the

classroom. Are teachers supposed to be “sages on the stage” or “guides on

the side”? A sage is a respected, wise person. Educators who act as sages on

the stage follow traditional teaching approaches where they act as primary

sources of information. In contrast, those who act as “guides on the side”

follow the facilitative teaching approach and practice cooperative learning.

Which one do you think is better?



According to novelist Edith Wharton (Cashman, 2008), “There are two

ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that refl ects it.” You

can either use a candle or be a mirror to refl ect a candle’s light. What does

this saying mean to an educator like you? Write down your answer in the

space provided below.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

This saying means that a teacher can provide the “light of knowledge” in two

ways — by being a provider of information or by acting as a guide, helping

his/her students through the processes of discovery and exploration. This

is especially true in primary schools because studies have shown that early

experiences can be so powerful that they can determine how a person turns

out in the future.

Current research on education favors teaching approaches wherein teachers

act more as “guides on the side.” This facilitative learning approach, also

known as “cooperative learning,” allows students to be active partners

in learning and are given opportunities to plan, implement, and evaluate

lessons and instructional activities. How these specifi c activities are

effectively delivered depends on many factors, including how motivated

students are to learn.

As an instructional leader, you are expected to guide the teachers in your

school in motivating their students to become actively engaged in the

teaching-learning process. In the next part of the lesson, you will learn

more about motivation and motivational practices that can make teaching

and learning more effective.



Are you familiar with the concepts of internal and external motivation?

The list below shows concepts that are associated with either internal or

external motivation. On the space before each number, write I if the concept

is associated with internal motivation, E if the concept is associated with

external motivation.

________ 1. A student’s natural curiosity

________ 2. Money as reward

________ 3. Getting good grades

________ 4. Hearing words of encouragement from classmates

________ 5. The desire for mastery and success

Compare your answers with those in the Key to Correction on page 117.

Let’s Study

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation for Learning

Motivation is defi ned as the process that initiates, directs, and sustains goal-

oriented behaviors. Sometimes, these processes are nurtured by drives and

needs within ourselves and the outside forces that direct them (Shalaway,

2005).

Intrinsic motivation is associated with internal drives and needs. It is fueled

by a student’s natural curiosity. It also refers to one’s desire for mastery,

success, and a sense of accomplishment. It is interest for its own sake: a

satisfaction derived directly from understanding a concept or learning a

skill. It is also associated with one’s confi dence in one’s abilities, sense of

ownership, or choices as well as other innate factors. Simply expressed,

intrinsic motivation is a natural love for learning.

Intrinsic motivation’s strengths lie in its ability to create enthusiasm and

commitment. However, it may also lead the learner to get “carried away”

and lose sight of his/her real motivational goal as he/she becomes too

focused on getting results.


Extrinsic motivators, as the term implies, arise from outside an individual.

They are also called “external reinforcements” or “rewards.” Examples

include praise, good grades, money, and anything observable.Extrinsic

motivation can result in cooperativeness and class-orientedness of the

learner who desires social acceptance or praise, for example. Extrinsic

motivation can also later on develop into more signifi cant commitment.

The probable downside, however, includes the possibility that the learner

might concentrate on the appearance of achievement to the detriment of

“deep” learning (Atherton, 2010). Some authors also contend that extrinsic

motivators sometimes discourage creativity, the desire to learn, and

commitment to good values (Shalaway, 2005). For example, Jere Brophy,

an educational researcher, said,“The improper use of praise, an extrinsic

motivator, can undermine a student’s desire to learn. Simply saying, ‘You

did a great job!’ may be interpreted in many ways. In this case, the student

who receives the praise may say, ‘Why are you saying that? Is it because I

was doing a poor job before?’” But still, it is important to praise children

for a job well done. This helps them to feel good about themselves and be

willing to continue to try harder. Challenge your teachers to fi nd something

to praise children for each day.

Training your teachers, then, in using praise effectively to promote and

encourage student learning is one of your important tasks as instructional

leader. Below are some guidelines for effective praise and encouragement

that you can share with them.

Guidelines For Effective Praise (Kizlik, 2010)

Effective Praise Ineffective Praise

1. Is delivered immediately upon student performance of desirable behaviors or genuine accomplishment. (You make me feel glad that you’re applying the terms and concepts learned like what you are doing now.)

1. Is delivered long after student task performance or irregularly and without specifi c attention to genuine accomplishment. (You did some good work last week!)

2. Specifi es the praiseworthy aspects of the student’s accomplishments. (I’m glad that you were able to follow accurately the steps in the science experiment.)

2. Is general or global, not specifying the success. (Great work!)


Effective Praise Ineffective Praise

3. Is expressed sincerely, showing spontaneity, variety and other non-verbal signs of credibility. (Thank you. I really appreciate your creativity in coming up with that poster.)

3. Is expressed blandly without feeling or animation, and relying on stock, perfunctory phrases. (Okay.)

4. Is given for genuine effort, progress, or accomplishment which is judged according to standards appropriate to individuals. (Coming up with that good hypothesis in your science class proved that your diligence in studying and reading paid off.)

4. Is given based on comparisons with others and without regard to the effort expended or signifi cance of the accomplishment of an individual. (You’re the most talented student in your class!)

5. Provides information to students about their competence or the value of their accomplishments. (You have been trying so hard to learn those new words and now you are able to read the whole story!)

5. Provides no meaningful information to the students about their accomplishments. (Very good!)

6. Helps students appreciate better their thinking, problem-solving and performance. (Student: Understanding how I learn best and using that study technique really helped me perform better in my language class!)

6. Orients students toward comparing themselves with others. (Student: I’m the best in gymnastics in my class because I’m talented!)

7. Attributes student success to effort and ability, implying that similar successes can be expected in the future. (Since you have been doing all your math homework, you have improved your grade! Continue doing that and you’ll stand a good chance of being invited to the Math Circle.)

7. Attributes student success to ability alone or to external factors such as luck or easy task. (You are lucky!)

8. Encourages students to appreciate their accomplishments for the effort they expend and their personal gratifi cation. (Congratulations for coming up with a very practical and useful home technology project! You must be pleased with yourself and feeling proud that all your hard work has paid off.)

8. Encourages students to succeed for external reasons -- to please the teacher, win a competition or reward, etc. (Use your talents and bring home the bacon!)


Praising Children Publicly or Privately

Your teachers praising children publicly is also a good practice. It has the

benefi t of inspiring other students to follow the example. Students may

act embarrassed, but the more your teachers point out the positive things

students do, the more students will work to receive your praise. Public

praise is also an excellent way to keep students behave appropriately. For

children who commit misdemeanours in your class, try to catch them in

moments when they are doing good things and focus on praising them. This

will help them shape up faster than being compared to their classmates.

Praising children quietly for a job well done is an alternative to public

praise when a student is particularly sensitive. Quietly praising a student

for following directions, neat handwriting, or correct answers can be a great

motivator for students. Consider the student’s personality when deciding

whether to give public or private praise for a job well done (Wagaman,

2009).


Can you tell between effective and ineffective praise? Write E on the spaces

beside praise statements that are effective, and I for ineffective praise

statements.

_________1. I noticed how you took time to show the new student around

the school. I am sure she appreciated the help.

_________2. I’m proud of you!

_________3. That’s an interesting idea!

_________4. You are amazing!

_________5. I can see that you enjoy math. You have worked on these

problems for over half an hour!

_________6. You are such a good student.

_________7. I’m glad to see you are working so hard on your spelling!

_________8. Your artwork is the best in your group!


Feedback

To check your answers, turn to the Key to Correction on pages 117–118.

If you answered all eight questions correctly, you already know very well

how to provide effective praise and you can easily train your teachers

on this skill. If you missed one or more items, you need to re-study the

discussion on how to provide effective praise.

Aside from giving rewards, teachers’ expectations can also infl uence student

motivation and achievement. Students often refl ect and even magnify their

teachers’ expectations. If teachers do not expect much from their students,

chances are, the students will be less motivated to learn.

Let’s Read

Teacher Expectations and Student Behaviors

Low expectations often result in low achievement and poor behavior.

Raising expectations may improve behavior and achievement even in the

youngest students. It is a common understanding that children will rise to

meet the expectations placed upon them. Raising expectations for students

has to be done carefully in order for those expectations to be reasonable for

students. Teacher expectations may be grouped into three areas: student

classroom behavior, academic achievement, and social behavior.

Teacher Expectations for Student Classroom Behavior

Teachers need to expect more from their students regarding their

obedience and classroom behavior. Students should understand the rules

and consequences for misbehavior and know that their teacher believes

in their ability to follow those rules. Teachers may discover that changing

their expectations is all that is necessary to turn a misbehaving class into a

focused, obedient class.


Teacher Expectations for Student Academic Achievement

Raising expectations for academic achievement should be done carefully

because students who struggle and have diffi culties learning in some areas

might be pushed too far and fail. At the same time, though, students who

are capable of reaching higher levels of academic success should be pushed

and required to meet higher expectations.

Teachers should make a habit of expecting just a little more from their

students each day. Pick a subject, an assignment and push students a

little more. It is important that these expectations are not portrayed in an

angry, frustrated or impatient tone. Expectations should be conveyed with

patience, confi dence, and gentleness.

Teacher Expectations for Student Social Behavior

Teachers need to spend some time teaching students simple social skills

that help them understand how to make a friend, how to be good friends,

how to walk away from a fi ght, and other basic social skills. When speaking

with students about how a situation was handled, the teacher should

convey the expectation that next time, the students will act and react more

positively. Teachers need to reward students for small actions that show

they, the students, are meeting expectations (Wagaman, 2009).


What can you say about your own expectations of students? How about

your teachers – are they expecting enough of the students? What makes

you think so?

Knowing more about what motivates students as well as being conscious

of your teachers’ expectations of students can help your teachers design

lessons, activities, and teaching strategies that capitalize on their students’

interests. Your teachers’ main goal must be to motivate the students to

learn. For students to become lifelong learners, teachers need to motivate

them to learn early on in life.

To learn more about motivating and effective teaching strategies that you

can train your teachers to apply, read on.


Let’s Study

Effective Teaching Strategies

Effective learning is a function of effective teaching. You learned earlier

that students learn better if they are properly motivated to do so. You also

studied some suggestions to improve your teachers’ teaching skills based

on the basic principles of teaching and learning.

What effective teaching strategies can your teachers use to further improve

the teaching-learning process? Here are some of them:

• Experiential Learning

Teachers provide opportunities for real-world experiences.

Students may expand upon their prior knowledge and apply what

they already know. Examples include fi eld trips, role playing,

simulations, drama, and laboratory experiments.

Students who engage in real-world experiences will attain and

assimilate information effectively because the activities are

meaningful in their day-to-day life experiences.

• Direct Instruction

This is a highly structured, teacher-centered information delivery

method. Many teachers routinely follow this strategy. It includes:

objectives, a materials list, warm-up, presentation, guided practice,

independent practice, closure, appraisal, and evaluation.

This strategy provides the teacher with a framework for imparting

information.

• Social Learning

Teacher-guided cooperative learning that facilitates student

interaction. This strategy is based on the belief that information will

be learned and remembered if there are social interactions about the

information.


This strategy strengthens students’ ability to retain information

through social interaction involved with cooperative learning

within socially appropriate norms.

• Problem-based Learning

This strategy promotes critical thinking by presenting students with

interesting and puzzling problems to solve. The problem-solving

process involves observing, developing, and testing predictions,

collecting and organizing data, and formulating concepts and

explanations.

• Constructivist Instruction

The teacher encourages students to construct hypotheses, make

decisions, and discover principles by themselves. The instructor’s

task is to “translate information to be learned into a format

appropriate to the learner’s current state of understanding” and

organize it so that the student continually builds upon what he/she

has already learned.

The context in which an idea is taught as well as students’ beliefs

and attitudes affects learning.

• Multiple Intelligences

Under this strategy, the teacher helps students learn effectively by

utilizing the learning strengths and intelligences of each student. At

the same time, the teacher assists the students in the development

of less–developed skills, which will enable them to function well in

the world of work and society.

It identifi es students’ abilities in eight areas of intelligence and does

not limit intelligence to strength in the logical-mathematical and

linguistic areas. This teaching approach is based on the theory of

Howard Gardner: learners learn in different ways because they are

also smart in different ways. Learners can be:

• word smart • music smart

• number smart • people smart

• picture smart • self smart

• body smart • nature smart


An effective teacher knows how to vary his/her teaching strategies to

address different learning needs and styles. To learn more about this, you

may study the TEACHeXCELS module Manage the Integration of Multiple

Intelligences and Higher Order Thinking Skills.

Which among these strategies are your teachers using in their classes?

Are there other strategies and approaches that they are already effectively

applying? Share and discuss these other teaching strategies with your

Flexible Learning Tutor and co-learners.

Let’s Read

Motivating Students to Learn

Students become more motivated to learn if the teaching-learning activities

are enjoyable and pleasant. For this to take place, it is your role to impart

to your teachers that learning should not be held within a competitive or

stressful atmosphere , such as when teachers say, “Study this because this

will be part of the exam,” or “Memorize this or else you will get a low

grade.”

To motivate students to study and learn, it is also important for teachers to

teach students that the amount of effort they exert in learning affects how

effectively they will learn. Putting in more effort will yield better school

performance. Teachers need to emphasize to their students that their:

Level of effort = Level of outcome

How can you motivate students to increase their efforts in studying?

Researcher Jere Brophy (Shalaway, 2005) suggests that teachers should ask

students to:

• Work on building their skills. “When you work on this project, it

will be easier for you to accomplish the next tasks in this course.”

• Develop their skills in stages. “You may fi nd it diffi cult now but

it will become easier with practice and as you exert more effort.

Sooner or later, you will master the lesson and will fi nd it much

easier.”


• Focus on mastery rather than competing and comparing with

others. “If you work on this science project well, you will develop

a better understanding of how clocks work,” and not “Put in more

effort for this project because your classmates are working hard on

theirs.”

Another good approach to teaching is by providing students with choices.

Remember when you were a student yourself? Did you like it when your

teacher gave you a choice on what to do? The principle remains the same.

Students may easily lose interest if they are not provided with choices in

terms of topics and learning activities. According to Khon (Shalaway, 2005),

effective teachers provide opportunities for their students to choose from:

• What to learn

• How to learn

• How well they need to learn and why

A teacher’s job is to guide students to make responsible choices and take

control of their own learning and behaviors. In short, at least once a day,

give learners an opportunity to decide what to do. It may not be very grand

but asking them what story they would like you to read to them is very

empowering and motivating in terms of their learning process.

A good way that you can impart to your teachers in motivating their

students is to create a thinking atmosphere inside the classroom. Think of

eight possible ways to achieve this. Write down your answers in the spaces

provided below.

1. ______________________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________

4. ______________________________________________________________

5. ______________________________________________________________

6. ______________________________________________________________

7. ______________________________________________________________

8. ______________________________________________________________


Compare your answers with mine below. Are they similar?

The following are my suggestions for creating a thinking atmosphere inside

the classroom:

1. Examine your own thinking about thinking.

2. Start early.

3. Every day, give students something to think about.

4. Teach students to look at all sides of a concept or issue.

5. Encourage students to fi nd threads and patterns or make connections.

6. Encourage students to question standards or the way things are always

done.

7. Ask unconventional questions.

8. Teach students to say what they mean.

9. Encourage students to consider other points of view.

10. Ask students to “wear other people’s shoes.”

11. Write things down.

12. Encourage students to ask questions to each other.

According to Kellough (1994), there are so many activities that teachers can

do to facilitate the teaching-learning process. Basic behaviors that teachers

can manifest to make students learn include:

• Structure the learning environment.

• Establish an intellectual, psychological, and physical environment

that enables students to act and react productively.

• Accept instructional responsibilities.

• Intervene and redirect potential misbehaviors.

• Overlap topics to help students see relationships between them.

• Provide a variety of motivating and challenging questions.

• Engage students’ preferred learning styles.

• Model behaviors.

• Facilitate data acquisition.

• Accept students’ opinions.


• Clarify confusion.

• Use silence.

• Question intelligently.

Further information regarding each of these teaching behaviors are

discussed in Annexes B and C of this module. Refer to the Annexes if you

want to share more with your teachers.

Many of these teaching behaviors refl ect a constructivist teaching and

learning environment. In such an environment, learning is an active

process in which learners construct new ideas and concepts based on their

current and past knowledge and experience. For more information about

“constructivist teaching behaviors,” please refer to Annex D.

As a school head performing instructional leadership roles, you are

expected to provide your teachers with knowledge and resources to help

them meet the instructional needs of all students. The teachers’ ability to

apply teaching strategies that motivate students to focus on their studies

and succeed is half of the story. The other half lies in how you motivate

and support both teachers and students in this respect. We hope that the

previous discussions have equipped you with the knowledge and practical

skills that you need to enable your teachers to progress from traditional

to facilitative teachers and your students from average to high-achieving

learners.



There are many ways for you to help your teachers improve their teaching

strategies. In this lesson, you learned some guiding principles that teachers

can follow. However, you need to make your teachers understand that

these guidelines are not meant to be treated as a strict recipe for practice.

Teaching is a complex human behavior. Teaching philosophies and styles,

learning preferences, and motivation all have to be factored in. One of your

most important roles as an instructional leader is to exemplify all learnings

from this lesson and in the next. As an example, just as you will soon be

coaching your teachers on building the confi dence of their students, you

will also have to build confi dence among the teachers. Like your teachers to

their students, you must communicate high expectations and then ensure

that your teachers develop the confi dence to meet those expectations.

Remember, they can who think they can. You can if you think you can.

Let’s Remember


• A person’s learning style is a biologically and developmentally

imposed set of personal characteristics that make the same

teaching method effective for some and ineffective for others.

Each learner has his/her own preferred way of, or approach to,

learning.

• There are many ways to classify learning styles. The learning

styles based on sensory preferences are:

o Visual

o Auditory

o Kinesthetic

o Tactile

• Students’ learning styles may also be classifi ed based on their

individual preferences for:

o Sound levels

o Lighting

o Temperature levels


o Seating arrangements

o Mobility

o Group sizes

o Types of learning activities

o Eating or drinking while concentrating

o Time preferences

o Biological differences

• The four learning styles based on patterns of perceiving situations

and processing information are:

o Imaginative

o Analytic

o Common sense

o Dynamic

• Some common myths on learning are:

o Myth 1: We must be sitting in a chair at all times in order to

learn.

o Myth 2: The person who does the most listening does the

most learning.

o Myth 3: The best way to teach is to give information in a

well-planned lecture.

o Myth 4: If we’d only listen, we’d remember more.

o Myth 5: The more “serious” the learning is, the more we will

remember.

o Myth 6: Fun is not important to learning.

o Myth 7: The only person who should be the “sage on the

stage” is the expert in the fi eld.

• To effectively provide learners with opportunities that address

their different learning styles, teachers need to vary their teaching

strategies to provide many choices of activities and experiences to

encourage learning.


• A teacher needs to learn how to capitalize on students’ interests

and curiosity as he/she models the learning process. A teacher

can motivate students to study and foster their desires to learn.

Some basic principles in motivating students to learn include:

o Motivation comes naturally.

o Teachers need to model passion for learning.

o Properly structured learning experiences foster motivation.

• Some effective teaching strategies include:

o Organizing instruction into integrated thematic units

o Using cooperative learning and group approaches

o Recognizing and teaching to multiple intelligences

o Accommodating individual learning styles

o Stressing thinking skills over plain memorization

o Harnessing the power of technology

o Practicing authentic assessment of student learning through

effective evaluation methods

o Motivating students to value learning

o Acknowledging the importance of active learning, engaged

time, and academic learning time

o Using wise group practices

o Encouraging student inquiry and initiative

• Motivation is defi ned as a process that initiates, directs, and

sustains goal-oriented behaviors. Intrinsic motivation is associated

with internal drives and needs. Extrinsic motivators come from

outside an individual.

• Teachers should strive to use praise effectively.

• Aside from rewards, teachers’ expectations can also infl uence

student motivation. Knowing more about how to motivate

students and what to expect of them can help teachers design

lessons and activities that capitalize on student interests.


• The main goal of teaching is to nurture students’ potentials and

make them lifelong learners As such, teachers need to motivate

them from the very beginning.

• Effective teaching strategies should:

o Help students fi nd their own reasons to learn and realize

why learning is important

o Be relevant to students’ needs and circumstances

o Provide a variety of activities to promote interest and address

individual learning styles

o Require active learning and actions/applications

o Provide opportunities to discuss personal meanings and

values

o Encourage student inquiry and nuture students’ natural

curiosity

• Good teaching aims to provide students with choices. Effective

teachers should provide opportunities for students to choose

from:

o What to learn

o How to learn

o How well they need to learn and why

• A teacher should guide his/her students to make responsible

choices and take control of their own learnings and behaviors.

• As an instructional leader, a school head should support teachers

in learning and applying instructional knowledge and skills that

acknowledge the presence of students’ various learning styles and

motivation to learn. However, it is only when the school head has

built his/her own competence in facilitating the teaching-learning

process that he/she can provide this kind of instructional support

to teachers.



Let’s see how much you have learned from this lesson. Try to answer the

questions below.

Part 1

1. Match each student learning style with the most appropriate learning

strategy by connecting each correct pair with a line.

Learning Style Learning Strategy

Visual a. Listening to stories

b. Looking at pictures

Auditory c. Role playing

d. Physical games

Kinesthetic e. Touching objects

f. Imagining scenes

Tactile g. Singing

2. Explain why the following learning style statements are considered

learning myths.

a. We must be sitting in a chair at all times in order to learn.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

b. The person who does the most listening does the most learning.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________


c. The best way to teach is to give information in a well-planned lecture.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

d. The more “serious” the learning is, the more we will remember.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

3. Differentiate intrinsic from extrinsic motivators.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

4. Explain how teachers’ expectations can infl uence students’ motivation

and learning performance. Give examples.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

5. Why should teachers provide students with choices in terms of learning

activities?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________


6. Which of the following are characteristics of effective praise? Encircle

the letter of the correct answers.

a. Delivered long after student task performance.

b. Sincere, spontaneous, with variety and other non-verbal signs of

credibility.

c. Provides information to students about their competency.

d. Given based on comparisons with others.

e. Specifi es the praiseworthy aspects of the student’s accomplishments.

f. Is given for genuine effort, progress, or accomplishment which is

judged according to standards appropriate to individuals.

g. Expressed blandly without feeling or animation.

h. Is general or global.

i. Helps students to appreciate better their thinking, problem-solving

and performance.

j. Is given according to standards appropriate to individuals.

k. Attributes student success to effort and ability, implying that similar

successes can be expected in the future.

Part 2

Read the critical incident below and answer the questions that follow.

Critical Incident

The clock ticks to 2:40 p.m. and the bell rings. With a weary smile, Ms.

Choong waves goodbye to her grade two pupils as they scurry out of

the classroom. Feeling a sense of relief, she goes back into the classroom.

Sighing, she looks at the pile of spelling test papers on her desk, starts

going through them, and fi nds that most of the words in the test papers

were misspelled. She had been so sure that her pupils would be able to

spell most of the words because she saw them listening well and looking

at the fl ashcards when she taught them the words. Apparently, it was

not so. At least, not for everyone. Ms. Choong sets aside the papers,

too disheartened to review them. Her eyes feel teary as she refl ects on

her day. She had caught Adi, Mazlan, and Ros secretly drawing each


others’ faces while she discussed the history of the national fl ag in their

social studies class. The experiment she taught the pupils to perform

for the unit on rocks in their science class was too diffi cult. And her

throat felt painful but she could not take time off and leave her class to

a substitute. [Adapted from Jonson, K. (2008)]

Pretend that you are the school head of Ms. Choong.

1. What seems to be her teaching style?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2. What results does she get from adapting the teaching style?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

3. How would you describe the pupils’ motivation for classroom

learning?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________


4. In the table below, write the challenges encountered by your teacher,

Ms. Choong, and how you, as her instructional leader, would help her

overcome the challenges.

ChallengesWays to Overcome

the Challenges


Feedback

Compare your answers with those in the Key to Correction on pages 118–

122. For essay type items, your answers may not be written in exactly the

same words, but as long as the thoughts expressed are similar, you may

give yourself a check mark.

If you got all the 30 answers correct, that’s great! This means that you have

already learned so much from Lesson 2. You may now proceed to Lesson

3. If you missed 5 items or less, you still did well, but review the parts of

the lesson that you missed in order to appreciate the concepts better. If you

got 6 or more incorrect answers, study this lesson carefully one more time.

Reviewing the contents may help you understand the lesson much better.

Concentrate on the parts that you missed. Revise your answers after your

review. After doing so, you may then proceed to Lesson 3.


What Is This Lesson About?

Teaching is the heart and soul of a school. As you learned earlier, it forms the

core of the “business of education.” Therefore, teaching must be delivered

in the most effective way to help the school successfully achieve its goals.

Part of good teaching is the ability to ask questions that trigger the use

of information stored in the mind of the student. Facilitative teachers ask

enabling questions that promote further learning and the use of higher

order thinking skills.

In Lesson 1, you learned how to guide your teachers to explore their

teaching philosophies. Lesson 2, on the other hand, familiarized you with

the guidelines for enhancing the teaching-learning process. Lesson 3 will

now focus on enhancing your questioning skills as a tool towards effective

teaching and improved learning. It will help you guide your teachers in

asking good questions when teaching. It will equip you with strategies

for converting simple questions into more challenging ones. You will also

fi nd how active learning can take place in your teachers’ classrooms and

how they can engage in refl ective teaching as an instrument for further

developing their instructional skills.

Enhancing Questioning and

Active Learning Skills for

Eff ective Teaching

LESSON

3




• Provide guidelines for asking good questions in class.

• Apply strategies to convert simple questions into more challenging

ones.

• Describe the process of active learning.

• Defi ne what refl ective teaching is.

• Enumerate some guidelines for journal keeping.


Read the story below.

The Obstacle in Our Pathby Tingting Rimart (2006)

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he

hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock.

Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and

simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping

the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the

way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables on his back.

Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and

tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing

and straining, he fi nally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load

of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying on the road where the boulder

had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the

King saying that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder

from the roadway. The peasant learned what many would never

understand!


Answer the following questions about the story using the spaces

provided.

1. What did the king place on the roadway?

_______________________________________________________________

2. What did the merchants and courtiers do when they came upon the

roadway?

_______________________________________________________________

3. What was the peasant carrying on his back?

_______________________________________________________________

4. What did the peasant fi nd under the boulder?

_______________________________________________________________

5. What did the purse contain?

_______________________________________________________________

What do you think about the questions you have just answered? Respond

to the following questions with a Yes or a No.

1. Did the questions encourage you to think about the story? __________

2. Did they challenge you to extract the moral of the story? __________

3. Did the questions lead you to appreciate the story based on how they

were asked? __________

The answers to all the questions above should be No. They were all recall

questions. As such, they failed to encourage you to analyze and appreciate

the moral of the story. They are what almost 90 percent of teachers ask

their students every day. It is about time you learn how to transform recall

questions into enabling ones or questions that enhance learning and the

use of higher-order thinking skills.


Let’s Read

What are enabling questions? How are they formed? Read on to fi nd out.

Asking Good Questions to Enhance Learning

Nearly 2,200 years ago, Socrates, the teacher of Greek philosopher,

Plato, asked questions that stimulated thinking among his students. He

asked questions and his students responded. Their answers led to more

questions. For Socrates, the process of asking questions and coming up with

well-thought of answers form the foundation of learning. Learning was

defi ned as a change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors due to experiences. As

students go through the experience of being asked, they gain more insights

about topics and develop their own capacities to reason and respond.

However, merely asking questions is not enough. Teachers must also know

what kind of questions to ask.

Through the years, educators have recognized the value of good questioning

as an essential educational tool. Questions have many signifi cant purposes

in education. Questions can encourage critical thinking, promote reasoning

skills, determine the amount of information absorbed by students, and

stimulate interest. Asking the “right” questions can stimulate higher

order thinking skills which develop creativity and insight among students

(Shalaway, 2005). Do you know what higher order thinking skills are? They

represent the higher levels of cognitive functioning. Higher order thinking

skill questions are not merely fact-recall or comprehension questions. They

encourage learners to analyze and explore further applications of acquired

knowledge. You may learn more about higher order thinking skills in the

TEACHeXCELS module, Manage the Integration of Multiple Intelligences

and Higher Order Thinking Skills.

Many teachers today still ask questions that only encourage recall of

information (Shalaway, 2005). These questions focus on the lowest level

of cognitive functioning. Put simply, they only challenge students to

regurgitate or repeat information and not actively process them. Asking

good questions is essential in enhancing the teaching-learning process.

As school head, you are expected to guide your teachers in learning how

to ask more enabling rather than just recall questions. Teachers need to

develop their skills in asking “good” questions and, in the process, help

their students become better thinkers. Study the strategies given below.


Strategies to Convert Simple Questions to More Challenging Ones

[Adapted from Shalaway (1999)]

1. Yes, but why? Teachers need to ask their students why they

think their answers are correct rather than just accept them as

true. If a student answers that “Photosynthesis is the process of

food/energy production in plants,” don’t just say, “That’s right!”

Instead, ask him/her, “Yes, but why can’t plants produce food the way

humans do?” This will encourage better information processing

and not just recalling as well as develop the student’s ability

to think.

2. What’s the use? Teachers need to ask questions that encourage the use

of information. Ask questions like, “Why do you need to know the different

ways of food production by various organisms?” In this way you present

to your students an opportunity to remember facts more easily and

promote appreciation for the topic by highlighting its relevance.

3. What’s different now? If something changes, teachers need to ask “How

will this change affect the way things are done?” Furthermore, there are

eight tactics to introduce changes in concepts through which teachers

can construct challenging questions:

• Adapt. “How would we (humans) function if we produced food the way

plants did?”

• Modify. “If plants were to produce food only through the use of moonlight

instead of sunlight, what do you think would happen?”

• Substitute. “What do you think would happen if all plants were blue

instead of green?”

• Magnify. “If bees that help pollinate fl owers were as big as cats, would

they still be able to do their job?”

• Minify (make smaller). “What would happen to the food production

capacity of plants if all their leaves were smaller?”


• Rearrange. “If a plant’s roots were above the ground and its leaves

underground, which of their processes would need to be changed?”

• Reverse. “If fruits appeared before fl owers, how would this affect the

pollination cycle?”

• Combine. “How different would the world be if there were only one kind

of plant?”

4. Can you prove it? Ask for proofs for answers. This requires learners to

formulate answers and support them. “How can you prove that sunlight is

essential for photosynthesis in plants?”

5. Right, wrong, or neither? Avoid questions that have only one correct

answer. Encourage creative thinking by asking questions that have

answers that require students to defend them. Ask questions like,“How

important is knowing about agriculture in human history?”

6. All of the above? Ask questions that have more than one correct answer

like, “What plants can be used as medicine? Why?”

7. Alike or different? Ask questions that require comparison and contrast

like,“How is a cactus similar to an orchid? How are they different?”

8. Square peg and round hole? Questions with unusual relationships

encourage creative thinking like,“What do you think would happen if human

beings had no ears?”

As an instructional leader, you ought to guide your teachers in the practice

of transforming recall questions into enabling ones using the suggestions

above. Doing so can enhance their teaching skills, no doubt about it.



To fi nd out how creativity is enhanced through the use of enabling questions,

answer the question below.

“What do you think would happen if humans produced food through

photosynthesis?”

Write down as many answers/scenarios as you can think of on a separate

sheet of paper.

Feedback

Compare your answers with mine in the Key to Correction on page 122.

How did you fi nd the activity above? Did it stimulate your interest in the

topic? Did it make you think more analytically and creatively? Did you fi nd

this activity fun? Imagine what it would be like for your teachers and their

students!



Before proceeding, change the following recall questions in Activity 3.1

into enabling ones. Write your revised questions on the spaces provided.

1. What did the king place on the roadway?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2. What did the merchants and courtiers do when they came upon the

roadway?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

3. What was the peasant carrying on his back?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

4. What did the peasant fi nd under the boulder?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

5. What did the purse contain?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Do you think your questions would now make the students think more? Why?

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Compare your answers with mine in the Key to Correction on page 123.


Let’s Read

Tips for Asking Questions

Now that you are already more familiar with the kinds of questions to ask

to strengthen learning among students, you will learn next how to ask

these questions. Below are some tips for asking questions that can further

enhance the teaching-learning process.

• Ask questions that are appropriate to the students’

level of mental development.

• Elicit thinking by asking different kinds of questions.

• Prepare questions in advance.

• Be alert for opportunities to ask questions during the class session.

• Call on students randomly to respond to questions.

• Repeat or rephrase a question to help students in answering it.

• Give students adequate time to respond to your questions.

Asking better questions helps students become better thinkers. Converting

simple questions to challenging ones promotes “cognitive independence”

or the ability to think for oneself.

On the other hand, questions should not only come from the teacher.

Students should also be encouraged to direct their own questions not

only to the teacher, but also to each other. Many students are afraid to

ask questions for fear of ridicule. Make sure that the classroom is an

environment that is safe for such an activity. Show respect to your students

for them to also respect you. In other words, teach by example.


Let’s Study

Active Learning

Active learning refers to dynamic teaching and learning, which engages

learners as active participants in the teaching-learning process. Teacher

and students learn by doing, performing, and refl ecting on insights

gained from specifi c activities such as fun games, simulations, role play,

introspection, and the like. Active learning facilitates an engaging process

of refl ection on an action for the purpose of developing or enhancing skills

and competencies.

Here are some examples of active learning strategies.

Think-Pair-Share

Sample situation:

The teacher gives students a task such as a question or problem to solve,

an original example to develop, etc. The students are given 2-5 minutes to

work on it alone (think). Then they form pairs to discuss their ideas for 3-5

minutes. Finally, the student pairs will share their ideas with the whole

class (share).

Collaborative Learning Groups (CLG)

These may be formal or informal, graded or not, short-term or long-term.

Students are assigned to heterogeneous groups of 3-6 students. They

choose a leader and a scribe (note-taker). They are given a task to work on

as a group. Often, student preparation for the CLG has been made earlier

(reading or homework). The group produces a group answer or paper or

project.

Games

Games such as jeopardy and crossword puzzles can be adapted as course

materials and used for review, for assignments, or for exams. They can

be used at the individual, small group or full class levels. There are now

some computer programs, for example, to help teachers create crossword

puzzles.


Video Analysis

Videos offer an alternative presentation mode for course material. Videos

should be relatively short (5-20 minutes). The teacher should screen them

beforehand to make sure they are worth showing. Students should be

prepared ahead of time through the use of reaction or discussion questions

or a list of ideas on which to focus; this will help them pay attention. After

the video, the teacher may have them work alone or in pairs to answer

critical questions, write a “review” or reaction, or apply a theory.

Student Debates

These can be formal or informal, individual or group, graded or not,

etc. They allow students the opportunity to take a thesis or position and

gather data and logic to support that view critically. Debates also give

students experience with verbal presentations. Some teachers ask students

their personal view on an issue and then make them argue the opposite

position.

Student Dialogues

Student-to-student (peer-to-peer) dialogues provide an opportunity for

students to present their own ideas, as well as to hear and refl ect on the

ideas of others. Dialogue with one’s peers facilitates the meaning-making

process and is the foundation of effective cooperative learning.

Student-Generated Exam Questions

This strategy may be used for review or for the actual exam. This technique

helps students actively process material, gives them a better understanding

of the diffi culties in writing reliable and valid examination questions, helps

them review material, and gives them practice for the exam.

Mini-Research Projects

A teacher can have the students conduct a research study on a topic from

the class. The teacher can guide them on collecting data during class time

through observing some situations or giving out short surveys. The teacher

can also guide students on doing outside-of-class data gathering. Either

way, students will, afterwards, present their research in a class research

symposium similar to the conduct of professional meetings. The teacher

may invite other faculty and students as guests.


Use of Raw Data

The teacher may ask students to do three steps: collate raw data about

certain topics, analyze them, and draw up a conclusion. The teacher can

review the students’ data analysis and provide feedback so the students

are guided on how to utilize raw data.

Case Studies

The teacher may bring to class case studies for students to read. Students

can discuss and analyze the case as well as apply concepts, data, and theory

to the class. They can work individually or in groups or do this as a think-

pair-share activity. The teacher may consider combining this with a brief

in-class writing assignment.

Keeping Journals or Logs

The teacher can have students make journal or log entries periodically (on

paper or computer, in or outside of class). He/She may also require a brief

critical refl ection or analysis of each entry. The teacher should be aware of

ethical issues involved in asking students to record and analyze personal

events or issues.

Newsletter

As school head, you may support small groups of students in producing a

newsletter on specifi c topics related to class, relevant research, information

on upcoming related public events, and so on.

Concept Map

Students may create visual representations or models of ideas and

relationships between concepts. These can be done individually or in

groups and can be shared, discussed, and critiqued.



“Students who are hands-on are students who are minds-on.”

What does the statement above mean to you? Do you agree with it?

The statement above means that students who are actively involved in the

learning process learn better. In active learning, students are provided with

opportunities to learn through application and practice, which enhance the

learning process and guarantee comprehension.

Teaching-learning is a dynamic process. A teacher should never stop

working toward becoming better at his/her vocation. What tools can he/

she use to improve his/her teaching? Read on to fi nd out.

Let’s Read

Refl ective Teaching: Thinking About Teaching Toward Professional Growth

Teaching is a constantly evolving process. Like doctors who attend

training regularly to improve their skills, teachers should constantly try

to perfect the art of instruction. The process may not be easy, but thinking

about the way one teaches is a start to improve one’s teaching skills.

Being professionals, teachers should be thinkers and decision makers as

well. They are expected to take full responsibility for their classrooms

and students.

There is a saying that goes, “The better you are at thinking and talking

about teaching, the better you are in the classroom.” Do you agree

with this? Teachers should be encouraged to stop and think about the

way they teach every now and then. As school head, you should help

them refl ect on their skills as educators. Systematic refl ection on one’s

teaching skills is not easy. It needs time and effort. Refl ective teaching is

thinking about one’s skills as a teacher and constantly fi ndings ways to

improve them.


Journal-Keeping and Refl ective Teaching

Encourage your teachers to write in their personal journals about their

teaching. The process of writing is in itself already a form of thinking.

Often, people do not really know what and how they think until they write

about it. The process of journal-keeping is powerful. Many teachers have

benefi ted from this practice in improving their teaching skills. Keeping a

teaching journal can boost teachers’ morale. It may also be an eye-opening,

tension-releasing, and instructive experience. Consciously documenting

self-observations encourages teachers to become “educational researchers”

using themselves as sources of data.

The following are some tips on journal-keeping that you can share with

your teachers (Shalaway, 1999).

• Make entries regularly.

• Keep a permanent record.

• Set aside a regular time for journal-writing.

• Write any thought or refl ection that comes to mind.

• Document your growth as a teacher.

• Identify and celebrate small successes.

• Target different aspects of teaching.

• Keep track of how much you have been focusing on each aspect of

teaching.

• Occasionally review your journal.

• Store your journal in a safe place.


Let’s Study

Below are some entries in teachers’ journals.

July 12, 2009

I had a wonderful time in class today. The students enjoyed the

story they chose to refl ect on. I think it was a good idea that they

chose parables because they are short and they encourage students

to really think for themselves. I remember last week when I read

to them a story that was quite long. Some seemed bored. I should

continue giving them shorter stories as anchor for group discussions.

To vary the presentation, I might ask some students to act out

some scenes from the story. That would be exciting! I will try that

next time.

What do you think of the journal entry above? Was it easy to understand?

Were you able to relate to the teacher who noted her insights about the way

she teaches and the way her students respond to her in class? How would

your teachers like it as a sample for writing simple journal entries?

Some teachers may want to keep track of their progress but have little time

for writing. They may write shorter journal entries similar to those shown

below.

August 8, 2009

Rene participated in the discussion today. Now I realize that all he

needs is to be a group leader. I should give him more chances to

play that role.

August 9, 2009

I am glad the poem appreciation lesson went well!

August 10, 2009

Must read more on higher-order thinking questions.


Whether journal entries are written in long narratives or simple phrases,

what is most important is for teachers to have a system to document or

track their teaching progress.

Writing journals is just one of the activities in refl ective teaching. Teachers

may also prepare class newsletters, take videos, or run discussion groups

with their colleagues. In any activity, just remember that the goal of

refl ective teaching is to allow for a way to document, refl ect, and analyze

one’s teaching abilities through observations. It is an essential step toward

professional growth and teaching-learning enhancement.

As school head leading your teachers towards instructional effectiveness,

you should always support them in their efforts to teach refl ectively. One

way of doing this is by sharing your insights and expertise with them in

the process of acquiring refl ective teaching skills.

This module has just walked you through your role as the fi rst resource on

facilitative and refl ective teaching for the teachers. With the knowledge,

skills, and values you have gained on leading teachers in facilitating the

teaching-learning process in your school, you can now look forward to

improved student performance and enhanced teacher competencies.

Let’s Remember


• It is important for teachers to develop the ability to ask enabling

questions or questions that tap higher order thinking skills among

students.

• Asking the “right” questions can stimulate higher-order thinking

skills and develop creativity and insight among students. As

school head, you are expected to help teachers learn how to ask

enabling questions rather than just recall questions.


• The strategies for converting simple questions into more

challenging ones include:

o Yes but why?

o What’s the use?

o What’s different now?

n Adapt

n Modify

n Substitute

n Magnify

n Minify

n Rearrange

n Reverse

n Combine

o Can you prove it?

o Right, wrong, or neither?

o All of the above.

o Alike or different?

o Square peg and round hole?

• The following are some tips for asking questions:

o Ask questions that are appropriate to students’

knowledge level.

o Elicit thinking by asking different kinds of questions.

o Prepare questions in advance.

o Be alert for opportunities to ask questions during the

class session.

o Call on students randomly to respond to questions.

o Repeat or rephrase a question to help students in answering

it.

o Give students adequate time to respond to your questions.


• Active learning refers to a dynamic process of learning new ideas,

skills and attitudes by engaging learners as active participants in

the teaching-learning activities. Teachers and learners are both

learning from doing, performing, and taking action through

learning vehicles/devices such as:

o Think-Pair-Share

o Collaborative learning groups

o Games

o Student debates

o Student-to-Student dialogues

o Student-generated exam questions

o Mini-research proposals or projects

o Using raw data

o Analysis of case studies

o Keeping journals or logs

o Writing and producing newsletters

o Concept mapping

• Refl ective teaching is thinking about one’s skills as a teacher

and constantly fi nding ways to improve them. Journal-keeping

is an important activity in refl ective teaching. Keeping a teaching

journal can boost one’s morale. It can also be an eye-opening,

tension-releasing, and instructive experience.

• As an instructional leader, you may have teachers who can ask

enabling questions that tap students’ higher order thinking skills,

who can promote active learning, and who can engage in refl ective

teaching. That is a great advantage; however, having teachers with

these qualities does not happen overnight. It requires a school

head who possesses these competencies and who can share and

model these teaching skills. It needs an instructional leader who

can exemplify how effort works towards success. And it calls for

a motivating school head whose support is felt and seen by the

teachers as they set out to be refl ective and effective teachers.



Answer the following questions using the spaces provided for each.


_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2. Convert the simple questions below into more challenging ones.

a. What is photosynthesis?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

b. Who is the head of the United Nations General Assembly?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

c. What is the third letter of the English alphabet?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

d. When was the light bulb invented?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________


3. Why is active learning important?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

4. Why should teachers provide ample time for students to respond to a

question?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Feedback


124. If your answers are similar to mine, that’s great! If not, review the

parts of the lesson you made mistakes in; then, revise your answers before

proceeding to the fi nal part of the module.


Let’s Sum Up

• Lesson 1 introduced to you what a teaching philosophy is and

how it is created. It also defi ned facilitative learning and its

characteristics. You also studied the four major teaching styles

—formal authority, demonstrator, facilitator, and delegator.

• Lesson 2 described the different learning styles of students. You

also learned the factors that affect learning, as well as the common

myths about learning styles. It also familiarized you with intrinsic

and extrinsic motivation, as well as provided a discussion on the

use of verbal praise as an educational motivator. Lastly, it taught

you several strategies and models in enhancing the teaching-

learning process.

• In Lesson 3, you learned how to formulate enabling questions to

enhance the learning process. You also studied active learning

and refl ective teaching.

• The lessons covered in this module provided you with knowledge

and skills you need to help your teachers enhance your school’s

teaching-learning activities.


How Much Have You Learned From This Module?

To fi nd out how much you have learned from this module, answer the

following questions.

1. What are the strengths of facilitative teaching? Its challenges? Explain

your answers.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2. What information is usually included in a teaching philosophy?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

3. Why is it important for teachers to know and understand their dominant

teaching style/s?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

4. Encircle the letters that correspond to words/descriptions below that

refer to the facilitative teaching style.

a. Teacher-centered

b. Democratic

c. Student-focused

d. Encourages critical thinking among students

e. Chairs are arranged in the usual linear pattern


f. Promotes active learning

g. Relies heavily on lectures

h. Does not encourage competition

i. Focuses on enhancing students’ critical thinking skills

j. Encourages student participation in activities

k. Works best for independent learners

l. Encourages collaboration with other students

5. Enumerate the four learning styles based on learners’ sensory preferences.

Give a brief description of each one.

a. _____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

b. _____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

c. _____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

d. _____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

6. What are the limitations of extrinsic motivation in encouraging and

sustaining learning. Give a concrete example of such.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________


7. Transform the two recall questions below into enabling ones.

a. What is the capital of Vietnam?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

b. Who invented the phonograph?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

8. What do you think would happen if a teacher did not practice refl ective

teaching?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

9. Why is it disadvantageous to use questions that merely explore recalling

and memorizing?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

10. How does active learning promote effective learning?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

11. What do you think are the key elements of active learning?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________


12. What are the roles of a school head in promoting teachers’ skills in

facilitating the teaching-learning process?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Feedback


127. Some of your answers may not be worded exactly as mine, but so long

as they express the same thought, you may give yourself a point.

If you answered all the questions correctly, that’s great! That means you

have learned much from this module. If not, review the parts of the module

that you made mistakes in. Revise your wrong answers after your review.


How Do You Rate Yourself Now?

Congratulations! You have done well in fi nishing this module. I hope you

have gained a lot of learning and insights about facilitating the teaching-

learning process in your school and in sharing the knowledge and skills

with your teachers.

For a fi nal check, may I invite you to return to the Self-Rating Competency

Checklist on pages 8-9. Review the list of competencies and place another

set of check marks (p) on the “Post” column that best describes your level

of mastery of each competency now that you have completed the module.

Compare your competency level before and after studying the module and

refl ect on how much you have learned. Write your insights on the space

below.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Good luck in your work in implementing the facilitative teaching-learning

process in your school!


Let’s Apply What You’ve Learned

(Module Assignment)

The fi nal activity for this module requires you to complete the following

module assignment. Please follow the Module Assignment Guidelines

detailed below.

Module Assignment Guidelines

1. Call your teachers to a meeting.

2. Present to them what you have learned from this module regarding how

they can improve the teaching-learning process.

3. Divide them into groups, then have each group come up with a lesson

plan that integrates enabling questions and active learning strategies

into the teaching process.

4. Discuss their lesson plans with them and ask them to implement these

for one week. Explain to them that you will be visiting their classes in

which they will apply the respective lesson plans.

5. Conduct a post-observation conference with individual teachers to fi nd

out how they think their lesson plans worked. Provide feedback on

their use of enabling questions and active learning strategies.

You may also ask your teachers to start their own journals where they

can record their refl ections or learnings from you as their school head/

supervisor. Their journals should document how they applied their

learnings to improve student performance.

6. Write a refl ection (approximately 500 words) on how you conducted the

activities in this module assignment. In this short refl ection, make sure

you answer the following questions:

a. What worked and what did not work when your teachers

implemented their respective lesson plans?

b. What feedback did you provide to your teachers? Give examples.

c. What other support did you extend to your teachers on their use of

enabling questions and active learning strategies?

7. Submit your refl ection with supporting photo documentation and a

sample of the best work from your teachers to your Flexible Learning

Tutor for review and feedback.

Good luck in your quest to achieve instructional success!


Key to Correction

What Do You Already Know? pages 5–7

1. What is the rationale behind writing a teaching philosophy?

Writing a teaching philosophy provides you and the teachers with an

opportunity to refl ect on your basic beliefs about teaching. It may also

be an eye-opening and instructive experience that can give you and your

teachers insights on your growth as educators.

2. What is facilitative teaching?

Facilitative teaching is teaching that guides, instigates, and motivates

students to learn. It is learner-centered, not teacher-centered. The

teacher is the facilitator rather than the source of learning (Methodist

University, 2010).

3. The four learning styles based on a learner’s sensory preference

are provided below. Give two examples of teaching/instructional

activities that can maximize each learning style in the

spaces provided.

Examples of activities that maximize the four learning styles include:

a. Visual

Viewing students’ photo and art exhibit

Constructing maps

b. Auditory

Listening to stories

Singing about a topic

c. Kinesthetic

Role playing

Playing games that involve physical activities

d. Tactile

Performing experiments

Preparing a diorama or dish garden


4. Discuss the role of motivation in learning.

Motivation is defi ned as a process that initiates, directs, and sustains

goal-oriented behaviors. It plays a very important role in learning.

Motivated teachers give their best to help students learn. On the other

hand, motivated students strive hard to acquire knowledge, skills, and

values. Motivation energizes teachers and students to expend effort

and other resources towards achieving success in the teaching-learning

process.

5. What might happen if teachers failed to provide students with choices in terms

of learning activities?

Students tend to lose interest and motivation faster if they are not

given choices in terms of activities. Different students are interested in

different things. Thus, the challenge for teachers is to provide varied

activities that will tap the interests of their different learners.

6. Can you tell between effective and ineffective praise?

I a. Good job!

This is an ineffective praise statement because it does not provide

information to the learner on why the job performed is considered

good.

E b. I am glad you completed your project on time.

This is an effective praise statement because it specifi es the reason

that praise is given. It also provides information on a quality that

could lead to future successful accomplishment.

I c. You have the most scientifi c solution in your group.

This is an ineffective praise statement because it compares the

learner with other people and it does not provide information

about the achievement.


Refl ective teaching is thinking about one’s skills as a teacher and

constantly fi nding ways to improve them. It provides opportunities

for self-assessment and professional development as a teacher.


8. Why should teachers choose enabling questions over recall questions?

Enabling questions promote higher-order thinking skills, recall questions

do not. Questions that ask why and how are enabling types of questions

because they ask students to explore and probe further ideas presented.

On the other hand, recall questions often merely ask students to repeat

the information given.

Lesson 1: Understanding the Facilitative Teaching-Learning Process

Let’s Try This (Activity 1.1) page 13

Teaching Beliefs

Components

Mr. Kamulwat Mrs. Prinsakorn

Beliefs about good teaching

Teaching by exampleis key. Students have as much to teach him as he has to them.

Good teaching means providing students as much knowledge as possible. Her role as an educator is much like that of a driver who brings students to their destination wherein she is in total control.

Preferred class activities

He uses activities that enable students to apply new learnings to practical situations.

He provides students with opportunities to work in groups and come up with projects that can help them further explore their new skills.

She gives lectures in class and expects students to listen. She asks students to work on long assignments.

Beliefs about students

Students have theirown unique abilities that can be further developed.

He respects their opinions and believes that there are many things he can learn from them.

Students are like empty vessels that need to be fi lled with knowledge.

They are expected to listen to her attentively as she conducts lectures.

They are passive receivers of information.

Learning goals for students

To develop students’ skills by giving them opportunities to learn and practice.

For students to learn as much knowledge as possible and to think more.

Goals for self-improvement

To rediscover himself by enrolling in professional development courses available for teachers.

To follow a career plan that will lead to her promotion at school.


How Much Have You Learned From This Lesson? pages 39–42

Part 1

1. How would you describe the teacher’s role in the class activity presented?

The teacher’s role in the class activity presented is that of a recorder

of students’ comments. By doing this the teacher skillfully transformed

herself from being the focal part of the discussion to being the facilitator

who drew the students into the center of the discussion.

2. How about the students’ role?

The students’ role was that of active participants and “resource persons”

in the class discussion. They were the main players in the activity.

3. What do you think was the general atmosphere in the class during the discussion?

The class had a general atmosphere of excitement and enjoyment that

was conducive to learning during the discussion.

4. Did the teacher in the critical incident demonstrate facilitative teaching? If

your answer is “no,” explain your answer. If “yes,” what characteristics of

facilitative teaching were demonstrated? Support your answer.

The teacher in the critical incident demonstrated facilitative teaching.

The following characteristics were demonstrated:

a. Provides a meaningful context for learning where lessons are framed by the

context of the students’ life situations.

The topic of the short story was on friendship and social skills. This

is an important topic for students as it forms part of their day-to-day

activities at home and at school.

b. Encourages ‘hands on’ and interactive approaches to learning activities to allow

learners to think about and apply concepts learned.

The teacher drew out responses from the students and provided

questions and prompts that encouraged the students to exchange ideas

and discuss with one another. The process also enabled the students to

exercise critical thinking skills.


c. Understands learners as ‘co-producers’ of new knowledge and skills.

Instead of giving information straight to the students, the teacher drew

out the ideas from the class members, enabling them to share their

knowledge with everyone in class and to come up with a synthesis of all

their ideas.

d. Recognizes that the prior learning and life experiences of learners are valuable

foundations for constructing new knowledge and skill sets.

The teacher’s choice of the short story topic manifests a consideration

of what the students already know based on their experiences. But

considering the limited information from the critical incident, the topic

scope of the material alone is not the only indicator that prior learning

and life experiences of students are recognized by the teacher. The

discussion subtopics, the examples given, and the applications cited

provide opportunities for relating the subject matter to the students’

environmental context.

e. Values the social interactions involved with learning in groups.

This characteristic is most obviously seen in the critical incident. The

way the teacher conducted the class discussion and phrased questions

clearly shows her intention that the students directly address one

another, deliberate on the issues, negotiate suggestions, and come up

with a synthesis.

Part 2

1. What is a teaching philosophy and why is it important?

A teaching philosophy is a set of beliefs that a teacher values and uses

as guide for instructional activities. It encompasses his/her beliefs

about students, teaching, and the role of an educator. It is developed by

refl ecting on one’s basic beliefs about students, teaching-learning, and

the role of a teacher in an academic institution, such as a school.

Writing down teaching philosophies allows teachers to explore their

beliefs and attitudes about students, teaching, and their role as educators.

They provide opportunities to fi nd out why they are teaching the way

they do. A principal must guide his/her teachers to align their own

philosophies with the school’s instructional goals.


2. Identify what teaching style is being described by the following statements.

Facilitator – This teaching style emphasizes student-centered learning

activities. This type allows a teacher to design learning situations and

activities that require student processing and application of course

content in creative and original ways.

Formal Authority – This teaching style doesn’t usually require much

student participation in class. It is often called the “Sage on the stage”

model.

Demonstrator or Personal Model – A teacher with this type of teaching

style might comment: “I show my students how to properly do a task or

work through a problem and then help them master the task or problem

solution. It’s important that my students can solve independently similar

problems by using and adapting demonstrated methods.”

Delegator – Teachers who have this teaching style tend to place much

control and responsibility for learning on individuals or groups of

students. Students are often asked to work independently or in groups

and must be able to maintain motivation and focus for complex

projects.

3. Do you agree with this statement: “A competent teacher assumes a combination

of the four different teaching styles.” Explain your answer.

If you answered “Yes”, you are correct. A competent teacher assumes a

combination of the four teaching styles. This teacher is called the “All-

Round Flexible and Adaptable Teacher”. He/She is able to adapt the

most appropriate teaching approach to individual students’ learning

needs. A combination is necessary so that the teacher can be responsive

to the unique needs of each learner. For example, a teacher can apply a

formal authority teaching style with students who prefer it because of

the diffi culty they are encountering as a result of personal limitations.

At the same time, the teacher can apply the delegator teaching style

with students who he/she knows prefer to take responsibility for their

own learning as a result of their past successful experiences in various

learning tasks.


4. It is expected that the teachers in your school have different teaching styles and

your students have various learning needs. Given this scenario, how will you

help your teachers deliver effective instruction?

You can help your teachers meet their students’ needs and deliver

effective instruction by sharing with them teaching techniques that can

benefi t all learners. The teachers should be encouraged to include as

many techniques as are doable in their situation and continue adapting

more until they are able to apply all the techniques. These teaching

techniques include:

• Motivate learning by relating the material being presented to what

has come before and what is still to come in the same class subject, to

material in other subjects, and particularly to the students’ personal

experience.

• Provide a balance of concrete information (facts, data, real

experiments, and their results) and abstract concepts (principles,

theories, and mathematical models).

• Balance problem-solving methods with simple knowledge-level

methods.

• Use pictures, schematics, graphs, and simple sketches liberally

before, during, and after the presentation of verbal material. If

possible, show fi lms or provide demonstrations and hands-on

activities.

• Use technology-assisted instruction, if possible.

• Do not fi ll every minute of class time lecturing and writing on the

board. Provide intervals - however brief - for students to think about

what they have been told.

• Provide opportunities for students to do something active besides

writing notes. Small-group brainstorming activities that take no

more than fi ve minutes are extremely effective for this purpose.

• Assign some drill exercises but do not overdo them. Also provide

some open-ended problems and exercises that call for analysis and

synthesis.

• Give students the option of cooperating on homework assignments

to the greatest possible extent.


• Applaud creative solutions, even incorrect ones.

• Talk to students about learning styles to reassure them that their

academic diffi culties may not all be due to personal inadequacies.

Explaining to learners how they learn most effi ciently may be an

important step in helping them reshape their learning experiences

so that they can be successful.

Lesson 2: Toward Effective Teaching-Learning


1. I: A student’s natural curiosity is an intrinsic drive. It comes from

within the person and is rooted in one’s rational powers.

2. E: Money as reward is an example of extrinsic motivation. The drive

is created from outside the individual.

3. E: Along with praise, verbal encouragement and anything

observable, getting good grades is an extrinsic motivator.

4. E: Hearing words of encouragement from classmates is an extrinsic

motivator.

5. I: The desire for mastery and success is intrinsic to the learner

who motivates himself/herself.

Let’s Try This (Activity 2.4), page 64

E 1. I noticed how you took time to show the new student around the school. I am

sure she appreciated the help.

The correct answer is E, effective, because the statement specifi es the

praiseworthy aspects of the student’s behavior.

I 2. I’m proud of you!

The correct answer is I, ineffective, because the statement neither

specifi es the praiseworthy behavior nor provides information about

it.


I 3. That’s an interesting idea!

The correct answer is I, ineffective, because the statement does not

provide information about why the idea is interesting.

I 4. You are amazing!

The correct answer is I, ineffective, because the statement is general

and does not specify the successful behavior.

E 5. I can see that you enjoy math. You have worked on these problems for over

half an hour!

The correct answer is E, effective, because the statement attributes

student success to effort and ability.

I 6. You are such a good student.

The correct answer is I, ineffective, because the statement is general

and does not provide meaningful information.

E 7. I’m glad to see you are working so hard on your spelling!

The correct answer is E, effective, because the statement specifi es the

praiseoworthy behavior and implies the value of effort on student

success.

I 8. Your artwork is the best in your group!

The correct answer is I, ineffective, because the statement does not

provide meaningful information and orients the student toward

comparing him/herself with others.


Part 1

1. Visual: b and f

Auditory: a and g

Kinesthetic: c and d

Tactile: e

2. a. We must be sitting in a chair at all times in order to learn.

This is a learning myth because while some learners may learn

effectively sitting in a chair, most learners learn better if their bodies

are active and doing something relative to the learning materials.


b. The person who does the most listening does the most learning.

This is a learning myth because not all learners learn best from

listening (auditory learners). Some learners prefer to see visual

materials on the concept being learned (visual learners), others learn

most when they have bodily movements or when they do something

(kinesthetic learners), and some others learn more effectively when

they touch objects (tactile learners).

c. The best way to teach is to give information in a well-planned lecture.

This is a myth because not all teachers belong to this formal authority

teaching style. While many teachers prefer to teach by giving

lectures in teacher-centered classrooms, some others fi nd facilitative

teaching as the best way to teach. Others prefer the delegator-type

teaching style, and others consider personal model teaching style as

the best teaching style.

d. The more “serious” the learning is, the more we will remember.

This is a myth because studies have shown that while some learners

prefer a serious learning atmosphere, others thrive well in a learning

situation where there is sense of humor and fun.

3. Differentiate intrinsic from extrinsic motivators.

Motivation is defi ned as a process that initiates, directs, and sustains

goal-oriented behaviors. Intrinsic motivation is associated with internal

drives and needs. For example, a teacher giving a positive statement of

encouragement after a learner’s demonstration of an interest in reading:

“It is great, Desy, that you enjoy reading the book!” Extrinsic motivators,

on the other hand, arise from outside an individual. For example, same

as the one given earlier but with an incentive: “It is great, Desy, that you

enjoy reading the book! Because of your love for reading, I will include you in

our Advance Readers Star Circle so that you’ll get a chance to qualify for our

annual school story-telling competition!”.

4. Explain how teachers’ expectations can infl uence students’ motivation and

learning performance. Give examples.

Aside from giving rewards, a teacher’s expectations can also infl uence

student motivation. Knowing more about motivating students as well

as being conscious of one’s own learning expectations can help a teacher

design lessons and activities that will capitalize on student interests


such as projects and theme studies. If a teacher has low expectations

of students, he/she would be less inclined to offer them intellectually

challenging activities.

5. Why should teachers provide students with choices in terms of learning

activities?

Teachers should provide students with choices in terms of learning

activities so that students will be able to learn using their learning styles.

This will make studying more fun, more interesting, and therefore, more

motivating for them. Having choices on activities to engage in will also

enable them to try out other learning styles.

6. Which of the following are characteristics of effective praise?

The encircled letters are the correct answers.

a. Delivered long after student task performance.

b. Sincere, spontaneous, with variety and other non-verbal signs of

credibility.

c. Provides information to students about their competency.

d. Given based on comparisons with others.

e. Specifi es the praiseworthy aspects of the student’s accomplishments.

f. Given for genuine effort, progress, or accomplishment which is

judged according to standards appropriate to individuals.

g. Expressed blandly without feeling or animation.

h. General or global.

i. Helps students to appreciate better their thinking, problem-solving

and performance.

j. Is given according to standards appropriate to individuals.

k. Attributes student success to effort and ability, implying that similar

successes can be expected in the future.

Part 2

Pretend that you are the school head of Ms. Choong.

1. What seems to be her teaching style?

Ms. Choong predominantly applies the formal authority teaching style.

Her classroom is teacher-centered where she serves as the main source

of knowledge.


2. What results does she get from adapting the teaching style?

Many of Mrs. Choong’s pupils are not performing well in spelling tasks

and some become uninterested in the class. Some activities, like the

science experiment, become too diffi cult for her because she tries to do

them all her own. She becomes weary and her health suffers because she

does most of the doing and talking in class.

3. How would you describe the pupils’ motivation for classroom learning?

The pupils’ motivation for classroom learning is low. This is manifested

in their low performance in their spelling class and in their behavior that

showed a lack of interest in the social studies lecture.

4. In the table below, write the challenges encountered by your teacher, Ms.

Choong, and how you, as her instructional leader, would help her overcome the

challenges.


the Challenges

Many of Ms. Choong’s pupils are not performing well in spelling tasks.

The school head may train Ms. Choong on the use of facilitative teaching skills and techniques that can benefi t all learners no matter what their learning styles are. Instead of just using fl ash cards and direct teaching to the pupils (which benefi t only visual learners), Ms. Choong could provide concrete materials like actual objects or pictures of the words being spelled, or create opportunities for students to do something active besides reading the fl ash cards and writing notes, such as acting out the words or spelling the words with their bodies or by forming the words using beads or other things that they like.

Pupils’ lack of interest in the topic being discussed.

The school head may train Ms. Choong on applying teaching techniques that heighten the motivation of students to learn. This includes relating the topic to situations that are fun, familiar, and signifi cant to the pupils. For example, instead of directly teaching the pupils about fl ags, Ms. Choong may group the students into three teams and ask the teams to create their own fl ags that would symbolize their respective teams. This will defi nitely be a fun starting point for rich pupil-centered discussions about fl ags, leading to their discussion of the national fl ag as guided by Ms. Choong. The school head can also train her on exploring the multiple intelligences of the students by asking them to draw or create the national fl ag using available materials or to act out the history of the fl ag.



the Challenges

Ms. Choong’s diffi culty in conducting activities such as experiments.

Instead of doing the experiments herself, Ms. Choong could guide her pupils in performing it. The students will learn much from the hands-on activity and Ms. Choong won’t be exhausting herself too much.

Ms. Choong’s health condition and weariness. Ironically, although she feels unwell, she cannot delegate teaching to a teacher substitute. Ms. Choong truly feels like a “sage on the stage”!

The school head needs to help Ms. Choong realize that her formal authority teaching style necessitates her to speak and move all the time in the classroom. This can exhaust her vocal cords and drain her stamina. The school head may ask Ms. Choong to observe classes of effective and relatively relaxed teachers who adopt learning styles different from her own.

Lesson 3: Enhancing Questioning and Active Learning Skills for Effective Teaching


Possible answers to the question, “What do you think would happen if humans

produced food through photosynthesis?”

1. We would constantly be exposing ourselves to the sun.

2. We would always feel hungry at night.

3. Machines would be invented to replace the energy coming from the

sun.

4. There would be no more use for plates and utensils.

5. Cooking will become a thing of the past.

6. Restaurants would necessarily have to change.

7. Having lunch breaks would mean going out to get doses of sunlight.

You may have thought of other creative ideas. Share and discuss them with

your co-learners and Flexible Learning Tutor.


Let’s Try This (Activity 3.3), page 90

Possible enabling questions include:

1. If you were the king, would you have done the same thing? Why?

2. How is the peasant’s attitude different from the merchants’ or

courtiers’?

3. How similar or different would the story be if the merchants and the

courtiers were also carrying the same load on their backs?

4. Make analogies between the elements of the story and your life.

5. Explain the statement, “The peasant learned what many did not

understand.”

You may have thought of other interesting enabling questions. Share and

discuss them with your co-learners and Flexible Learning Tutor.




constantly fi nding ways to improve them. It provides opportunities for

self-assessment and professional development as a teacher.

2. Convert the simple questions into more challenging ones.

Here are possible answers.

a. Why is photosynthesis an important process for plants?

b. Explain why being the head of the United Nations General

Assembly is a challenging position for anyone.

c. What do you think would happen if the third letter of the English

alphabet were removed?

d. What do you think would happen if the light bulb had not been

invented?

You may have thought of other interesting questions. Share and discuss

them with your Flexible Learning Tutor.


3. Why is active learning important?

Active learning is important because it fosters learner-centeredness in

the teaching-learning process. Learners are engaged in activities and

knowledge construction rather than merely “passively” absorbing

information from teacher lectures and traditional “chalk-and-talk”

sessions. It involves strategies that facilitate discovery, cooperation,

critical and creative thinking, and fun-fi lled learning.

4. Why should teachers provide ample time for students to respond to a

question?

Some students need time to think of an answer. Hence, teachers have to

provide time for them to respond. If students fi nd it diffi cult to answer,

the teacher may rephrase the question or give clues.

How Much Have You Learned From This Module?, pages 104–107

1. What are the strengths of facilitative teaching? Its challenges? Explain your

answers.

The strengths of facilitative learning include its ability to engage

students in active learning, in the use of higher order thinking skills,

and in stronger motivation to learn. All these translate to improved

learning and performance of the students. The challenges that may be

encountered in applying facilitative teaching are the increased amount

of time and effort the teacher may need in preparing for the class, the

change in teaching philosophy that may be required of the teacher,

and the more active role the instructional leader will need to play in

supporting facilitative teachers.

2. What information is usually included in a teaching philosophy?

A teaching philosophy is a set of beliefs that a teacher values and uses

as guide in instructional activities. It contains information about basic

beliefs about students, teaching-learning, and the teacher’s role as an

educator.

3. Why is it important for teachers to know and understand their dominant

teaching style/s?

It is important for teachers to know and understand their dominant

teaching style/s so that they will be able to appreciate the advantages

and disadvantages of the particular teaching style/s they are using,


especially on the part of the students. Such a comprehension will enable

them to refl ect on their teaching practices and gain insights on how

effective teachers can adopt two or more teaching styles. This may lead

them further to see that they may have to work on accommodating

students’ various learning needs.

4. Encircle the letters that correspond to words/descriptions below that refer to

the facilitative teaching style.

The encircled letters indicate the correct answers.

a. Teacher-centered

b. Democratic

c. Student-focused

d. Encourages critical thinking among students

e. Chairs are arranged in the usual linear pattern

f. Promotes active learning

g. Relies heavily on lectures

h. Does not encourage competition

i. Focuses on enhancing students’ critical thinking skills

j. Encourages student participation in activities

k. Works best for independent learners

l. Encourages collaboration with other students

5. Enumerate the four learning styles based on learners’ sensory preferences. Give

a brief description of each one.

a. Visual learning style – A preference to learn with the use of pictures

and through imagining situations and images

b. Auditory learning style - A preference to learn by hearing stories,

singing, and activities that utilize music

c. Kinesthetic learning style - A preference to learn through using

movements of the body, such as engaging in physical games, role

playing, or pantomime

d. Tactile learning style - A preference to learn through touching and

exploring.


6. What are the limitations of extrinsic motivation in encouraging and sustaining

learning. Give a concrete example of such.

Extrinsic motivation, like giving verbal praise and tangible rewards,

is criticized as ineffective in sustaining the learning process for a

long time. Focusing on extrinsic rather than intrinsic motivation

will not encourage learners’ innate curiosity to acquire knowledge.

Extrinsic motivation loses its motivating effects as students

grow up.

7. Transform the two recall questions below into enabling ones.

Possible answers:

a. How is the capital of Vietnam similar to Manila?

b. What machines today are similar to the phonograph?

You may have thought of other interesting questions. Share and discuss

them with your Flexible Learning Tutor.

8. What do you think would happen if a teacher did not practice refl ective

teaching?


constantly fi nding ways to improve them. A teacher who does not

practice refl ective teaching loses the opportunity to assess regularly

his/her teaching skills and pursue professional development as an

educator.

9. Why is it disadvantageous to use questions that merely explore recalling and

memorizing?

Recall questions only encourage the development of lower-

level cognitive skills such as rote memory. They do not promote

higher-order thinking skills (critical and creative thinking skills).

10. How does active learning promote effective learning?

Under active learning, strategies that involve a lot of student participation

are used. By being active participants in the learning process, students

are able to absorb more and, therefore, learn more effectively.


11. What do you think are the key elements of active learning?

The key elements of active learning are creating learning experiences,

interaction, and dialogue. By “creating learning experiences” and

interaction-based activities, learners become more participatory in

building their own learning and constructing their own meanings.

Encouraging dialogues allows students to refl ect on their learning

experiences and, with the help of the teacher and fellow students, make

meaning of the learning experiences.

12. What are the roles of a school head in promoting teachers’ skills in facilitating

the teaching-learning process?

The roles of a school head in promoting teachers’ skills in facilitating the

teaching-learning process include the following:

• Helper – for teachers to learn and appreciate the different teaching

styles and adopt two or more in their teaching

• Provider – of knowledge and resources to help teachers meet the

instructional needs of all students

• Motivator – by supporting teachers

• Model – of facilitative teaching behaviours to teachers

• Builder – of teachers’ confi dence

• Communicator – of high expectations and confi dence-building


Suggested Readings/Websites

Learning Theories and Teaching Strategies. Journey to Excellence (J2E).

http://www.journeytoexcellence.org/

ADPRIMA: Education Information for New and Future Teachers. http://www.

adprima.com/managing.htm

Online Teaching: Have You Got What It Takes? http://members.shaw.ca/

mdde615/index.htm

Teaching and Learning Philosophy and Strategies. Chemconnections. http://

chemconnections.org/modules/tandl_philosophy.html

How to Praise Children for a Job Well Done. Suite101. http://

newteachersupport.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_praise_children_

for_a_job_well_done


Glossary

Abstract - refers to something understood on a conceptual or theoretical

level, e.g., like a summary or an overview

Acquisition - refers to the act of gaining or obtaining something

Active Learning - as the name suggests, is a process whereby learners

are actively engaged in the learning process rather than “passively”

absorbing teacher-centered lectures. Active learning involves reading,

writing, investigation, discussion, and engagement in solving problems,

analysis, synthesis, and evaluation

Adaptability - refers to the ability to adjust to a situation

Autocratic - refers to a traditional style of teaching and leadership

characterized by domination and control and monopoly of power and

ideas

Capitalize - means to use something to one’s advantage

Chalk-and-talk - an approach to teaching often classifi ed as traditional

because of the use of blackboard (and chalk) for writing notes to be

passively copied by students, together with the delivery of a lecture

(talk) with little opportunity for student interaction or engagement

Cognitive - refers to or related to thinking or mental process like sensation,

perception, etc.

Collaboration - means working or coordinating with other people to

achieve a certain goal

Competency - refers to a person’s level of capability or aptitude to perform

a specifi c task

Concrete - refers to something that is real or can be measured qualitatively

and/ or quantitatively

Constructivism - is a philosophy of learning founded on the assumption

that by refl ecting on their experiences, learners construct their own

understanding of the world they live in

Contrast - means to compare two things so as to point out their (usually

glaring) differences


Criteria - refers to the bases of comparison or points of reference against

which other things are evaluated or compared

Cues - refers to clues or hints that serve as signals to people to do certain

actions

Dominate - means to command position or rule by strength

Encompass - means to include or to cover

Enhance - means to improve or advance

Facilitate - means to make a certain task easy or easier to carry out and

accomplish

Familiarize - means to be acquainted or familiar with a concept or an idea

Flexibility - refers to the ability to adapt, conform to change

Gatling gun approach - refers to asking one question after another in rapid

sequence

HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) - refers to a learning experience in

which learners are engaged in the highest levels of thinking where they

become creators of new ideas, analyzers of information, and generators

of knowledge. This is in contrast with lower order thinking wherein

learners simply receive, recite, or participate in routine practice and

do not go beyond simple reproduction of knowledge. HOTS involve

designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing, hypothesizing,

critiquing, experimenting, investigating, judging, organizing,

deconstructing, interrogating, and fi nding.

Indiscriminately - means to do something hastily or act towards something

without making distinctions

Integration - refers to the incorporation or inclusion of something to a set

or a whole

Implement - means to apply, use, or carry out things or concepts

Learning Style - refers to an individual’s preferred ways of learning.

MI (Multiple Intelligences) - refers to the theory of human intelligence that

suggests people have eight intelligences in varying amounts. These

intelligences are identifi ed as verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical,

visual-spatial, musical-rhythmic, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal,

intrapersonal, and naturalist.


Magnify - means to enlarge hypothetically the size of something to see how

it will function in such form

Manifesting - also means “showing” or “displaying” certain characteristics

Mastery - refers to a high level of understanding and grasp of a concept or

task

Minify - means to reduce hypothetically the size of something to see how

it will function in such form

Modeling - means projecting an image or setting an example

Modify - means to change or alter something to make it better or more

relevant

Myth - means a fallacy or an unproven (often erroneous) belief

Optimize - means to get the most out of something or using its full

potential

Pantomime - refers to a type of performance that involves acting without

the use of words

Passionate - means showing intense desire towards something

Philosophy - refers to a set of beliefs or guiding principles

Phonograph - an audio player/device

Photosynthesis - process by which plants convert water and carbon dioxide

into carbohydrates using sunlight as source of energy and with the aid

of chlorophyll.

Pitfall - synonymous to drawbacks and disadvantages

Pollinating - refers to the process of sexual reproduction among fl owering

plants

Refl ective Teaching - means thinking about what you do in the classroom,

why you do it, and if it works -- a process of self-observation and self-

evaluation geared towards improvements in teaching

Regimented - means rigidly followed and severely limited by rules

Relevant - means important or useful

Sage - refers to a respected, wise person


Self–esteem - refers to one’s sense of self–worth; synonymous to confi dence

Sequential - means strictly arranged in a specifi c order or pattern

Strive - means to work towards the achievement or accomplishment of

something

Teaching-Learning Process - generally refers to the process by which an

individual acquires (learning) or imparts (teaching) knowledge in an

educational situation

Teaching Philosophy - refers to a set of beliefs that teachers value and

which directs their instructional activities. It encompasses their beliefs

about students, learning, teaching and their role as teachers.

Teaching Style - refers to the manner by which one facilitates learning

inside the classroom. Teaching styles are abstractedly categorized into

four: formal authority, demonstrator or personal model, facilitator, and

delegator.

Tedious - means tiresome and boring

Theoretical - means hypothetical or based on a theory


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Annex A

Constructivism[Adapted from Constructivism in Teaching and Learning

Project COMPETE Module (SEAMEO INNOTECH, 2002)]

Constructivism refers to the idea that learners construct knowledge for

themselves. Constructing meaning is learning. There are two signifi cant

consequences of this view:

- Teachers should focus on the learner in thinking about learning, not

on the subject or lesson to be taught.

- There is no knowledge independent of the meaning attributed to

experience constructed by the learner or community of learners.

Other defi nitions of constructivism are:

Constructivism is a theory of knowledge based on the premise that

knowledge is physically constructed by learners who are involved in

active learning and that knowledge is socially constructed by learners who

convey their meaning–making to others. Knowledge is constructed through

a learner’s interactions with his environment. In this theory, knowledge is

not absolute; it is not separate and independent from the owner. In other

words, knowledge does not have an objective or absolute value or, at least,

that we have no way of knowing this reality.

We can not fully understand, much less appreciate, constructivism and its

implications on improving our pedagogy if we don’t have a glimpse of its

historical context and antecedent. In the 18th century, an Italian philosopher

by the name of Giambattista Vico held that humans can only clearly

understand what they themselves have constructed. To know, according to

Vico, means to know how to make. Implied from his view is that whatever

it is that we succeed in learning is nothing more or less than the ideas we

construct for ourselves.


Jean Jacques Rousseau published Emile, a treatise on education,

in which he argued that the senses were the basis of intellectual

development and that the child’s interaction with the environment

was the basis for constructing and understanding. Thus, Rosseau

emphasized learning by doing. The teacher simply presented

problems that would stimulate a student’s curiosity and promote

learning. Rosseau’s views directly oppose the educational framework

that focuses on the study and memorization of the classics.

John Dewey could be considered as the foremost proponent

of situated learning and learning by doing. According to him,

education depended on action. Knowledge and ideas emerged

only from situations where learners had to draw them out from the

experiences that had had meaning and importance to them. These

situations had to occur in a social context, such as a classroom,

where students joined in manipulating materials and, thus, created

a community of learners who built their knowledge together.

Like Rosseau and Dewey, Jerome Bruner saw learning as an active

process in which learners constructed new ideas and concepts

based upon their current and past knowledge. The learner selected

and transformed information, constructed hypothesis, and made

decisions relying on a cognitive structure to do so.

Source: SEAMEO INNOTECH. (2002). Constructivism in Teaching & Learning.

Project COMPETE, pp. 6-9.


Annex B

Teacher Behaviors That Encourage Student Learning[Adapted from Kellough (1994)]

Structuring the Learning Environment

• Plan detailed lessons.

• Begin and end classes promptly.

• Learn and know students’ names on the fi rst

day of meeting.

• Assign responsibilities, procedures, and expectations.

• Use instructional vocabulary.

• Establish, clearly communicate, and maintain classroom rules

and procedures.

• Organize students.

• Help students organize their learnings.

• Provide clear defi nitions and instructions.

• Identify time and resource constraints.

• Communicate lesson objectives.

• Provide summary reviews.

• Organize the classroom as a safe and positive learning

environment.

Accepting Instructional Responsibility

• Attend to students’ questions and recitations.

• Require students to demonstrate their learnings.

• Call upon students to share their thoughts.

• Plan engaging activities.

• Identify desired learning behaviors.

• Offer incentives for acceptable performance.

• Share the responsibility for accomplishing course objectives

with students.

• Attempt to improve instructional effectiveness.


• Communicate well with parents, administrators, and colleagues.

• Formulate a program for monitoring and feedback.

• Intervene in cases of and redirect potential misbehaviors.

• Attend to the entire class while working with a group.

• Communicate using clues and gestures.

• Refocus and shift attention when interest wanes.

• Limit time for a topic when students are not interested.

• Monitor continuously classroom activities.

• Attend immediately to disruptive behaviors.

• Conduct regular comprehension checks.

• Allow a class to recover when distracted.

• Conduct simultaneous or overlapping activities.

Providing a Variety of Motivating and Challenging Activities

• Show pride in learning, thinking, and teaching.

• Expect students to do their best in all activities.

• Show enthusiasm for teaching-learning.

• Be optimistic about students’ abilities.

• Plan shifts in activities and other intellectual challenges.

• Plan exciting and interesting lessons.

• Pace lessons smoothly and briskly.

Modelling

• Demonstrate rational problem-solving skills.

• Demonstrate higher-order thinking skills.

• Show respect for students.

• Readily admit and correct your mistakes.

• Spell words correctly and use correct grammar.

• Write legibly.

• Arrive promptly in class.

• Demonstrate competence.

• Communicate things clearly and concisely.


• Return assignments promptly and give encouraging comments.

• Do not interrupt students’ thinking processes.

• Use mental modeling and “thinking-aloud” strategies.

Facilitating Data Acquisition

• Provide clear and specifi c instructions.

• Emphasize major ideas.

• Create a responsive classroom environment.

• Provide direct learning experiences.

• Serve as resource person.

• Use cooperative learning while regarding students as

potential resources.

• Use older students, other faculty members, and people in your

community as resource persons.

• Ensure the availability of information sources.

• Select materials that facilitate student learning.

• Provide feedback data about each student’s performance.

• Ensure that equipment and materials are available.

Accepting

• Avoid the use of criticisms.

• Use strong praise for students rarely.

• Give reinforcements frequently.

• Use paraphrasing and refl ective listening.

• Accept students’ moods or expressions of feelings empathically.

• Plan to give positive actions within lessons to show respect for

students’ experiences and ideas.

• Use nonverbal cues effectively.

Clarifying

• Provide step-by-step, sequential learning experiences.

• Give infrequent summary views.

• Invite students to be more specifi c.


• Ask students to elaborate or rephrase ideas.

• Ask students to give examples.

• Assure adequate practice for the contents taught.

• Repeat student responses.

• Allow students to correct misinterpretations.

• Conduct frequent comprehension checks.

• Relate new contents to previous lessons.

• Relate contents to students’ experiences.

• Help students make learning connections between disciplines.

Using Silence

• Pause for thinking and refl ection.

• Wait longer than two seconds after asking a question or posing

a problem.

• Use teaching silences to stimulate group discussions.

• Keep silent when students are working quietly.

• Listen actively when students are talking.

• Maintain classroom control using nonverbal signs.

Questioning

• Use a variety of questions to stimulate both convergent and

divergent thinking.

• Help students develop their own questioning skills.

• Plan questioning sequences that enlist a variety of thinking skills.

• Maneuver students toward higher cognition levels.

• Encourage student questioning without judging the questions’

quality or relevance.

• Attend and respond to questions by building upon their contents.

• Encourage students to ask questions of each other.


Annex C

Variables That Enhance Learning[(Adapted from Kellough, 1994)]

The Learning Environment

Learning is enhanced if the learner:

• Can maintain some control over the space for learning

• Develops a better understanding of his/her own learning style and

thinking process

• Feels accepted by the teacher

• Feels that although learning is rewarding, the rewards are within

reach

• Feels welcome in the classroom

• Is personally involved in learning activities

• Perceives teacher as approachable

• Perceives teachers as friendly, understanding, sympathetic,

and nurturing

• Understands class expectations and procedures

Lesson Planning

Learning is enhanced if the teacher:

• Shows how learning is relevant to students

• Provides well-prepared lessons

• Provides links between lessons

• Gives frequent learning practice and comprehension checks

• Provides interesting and motivating lesson introductions

• Establishes specifi c and clearly stated expectations


Instructional Behaviors

Learning is enhanced if the teacher:

• Adjusts his/her teaching style to students’ learning styles and

preferred activities

• Appreciates and encourages active learning among students

• Functions as an effective decision–maker

• Is in control of classroom events

• Demonstrates enthusiasm for teaching-learning

• Gives sincere, low-keyed praise for individual student

achievements

• Is able to multitask

• Is approachable

• Is businesslike but has a good sense of humor

• Monitors student activities constantly

• Poses carefully–worded and well-thought of questions

• Employs a variety of teaching-learning strategies

• Uses a variety of questions

• Promotes higher-order thinking skills and multiple intelligences

• Uses meaningful gestures and other types of body language


Annex D

Constructivist Teaching Behaviors[Adapted from Constructivism in Teaching and Learning

Project COMPETE Module (SEAMEO INNOTECH, 2002)]

1. Constructivist teachers encourage and accept student autonomy and

initiative.

Autonomy and initiative prompt students’ pursuit of connections among

ideas. Students who frame questions and issues and then go about answering

and analyzing them take responsibility for their own learning and become

problem solvers and, more important, problem fi nders. These students, in

pursuit of new understandings, are led by their own ideas and informed by

the ideas of others. These students ask for, if not demand, the freedom to

play with ideas, explore issues, and encounter new information.

The way a teacher frames an assignment usually determines the degree

to which students may be autonomous and display initiative. Here is an

example: students in a 12th grade English class were assigned to read

Oedipus Rex. The teacher also asked the students to write an essay describing

the book the way Oliver Stone, the controversial fi lm director, would and

then to compare that with their understanding of Sophocles’ views. To

twit their interest, the teacher assigned one group of students to look for

a proof in the text that would show Oedipus had actually slept with his

mother. After poring over the text, this group concluded that, according to

the chronology of events, Oedipus could not possibly have done so. The

students then wrote their essays defending their positions and retold the

story as they imagined Oliver Stone would have told it.

2. Constructivist teachers use raw data and primary sources, along with

manipulative, interactive, and physical materials.

Concepts, theorems, algorithms, laws, and guidelines are abstractions

that the human mind generates through interaction with ideas. These

abstractions emerge from the world of phenomena such as falling stars,

nations at war, decomposing organic matter, gymnasts who can hurl their

bodies through space, and all other diverse happenings that describe our

world. The constructivist approach to teaching presents these real-world

possibilities to students, then helps the students generate the abstractions


that bind these phenomena together. When teachers present to students

the unusual and the commonplace and ask them to describe the difference,

it encourages students to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate. Learning

becomes the result of research related to real problems– and is this not what

schools strive to engender in their students?

For example, students can read historical accounts of the effects of the

social policies of the early 1960s on the economic and educational profi le

of the Muslim population in the Philippines. Or, students can be taught to

read the census reports and allowed to generate their own inferences about

social policies. The former relies on the authority of a stranger, the latter on

the ingenuity of the individual student. Lists of fi gures and pages of charts

are probably not the fi rst images evoked when the terms “hands–on” or

“manipulative” are heard. But the census data can tell a loud story if the

right pages and lists are highlighted in the context of a good question.

3. When framing tasks, constructivist teachers use cognitive terminology

such as “classify,” “analyze,” “predict,” and “create.”

The words we hear and use in our everyday lives affect our way of thinking

and, ultimately, our actions. When one teacher asks students to select a

story’s main idea from a list of four possibilities on a multiple-choice test,

and another teacher asks students to analyze the relationships among three

of the story’s characters or predict how the story might have proceeded

had certain events in the story not occurred, the tasks being required are

different. Analyzing, interpreting, predicting, and synthesizing are mental

activities that require students to make connections, delve deeply into texts

and contexts, and create new understandings.

In a 3rd grade classroom, a teacher read a story to her students about three

children who got lost in a forest. The teacher related that after struggling

mightily, yet unsuccessfully, to fi nd their way, one of the three children, a

brave and daring youngster, volunteered to go off alone in search of help

while the two waited in a clearing. At this point, the teacher stopped and

asked the students to predict how the story was likely to end and to support

their answer. Majority of the students predicted that all three would be

rescued. Their reason? They pointed out the competence of the child who

went off in search of help. The students used information and impressions

gathered from the text to predict how the story was likely to end. Framing


tasks around cognitive activities such as analysis, interpretation, and

prediction—and explicitly using those terms with students—fosters the

construction of new understandings.

4. Constructivist teachers allow student responses to drive lessons, shift

instructional strategies, and alter content.

This descriptor addresses the notion of “teachable moments” throughout

the school year. As educators, we have experienced moments of excitement

in the classroom, moments when the students’ enthusiasm, interest, prior

knowledge, and motivation have intersected in ways that made a particular

lesson transcendental and enabled us to think with pride about that lesson

for weeks. We recall the gleam in our students’ eyes, their excitement

about the tasks and discussions, and their extraordinary ability to attend

to the task for long periods of time and with great commitment. If we were

fortunate, we encountered a handful of these experiences each year and

wondered why they did not occur more frequently.

Although some teachers may not have much latitude regarding content, all

generally have a good deal of autonomy in determining the ways in which

the content is taught. For example, a certain elementary science curriculum

called for students to begin learning about the “scientifi c method” and to

conduct some rudimentary experiments using this method: ask a question

(develop a hypothesis), fi gure out a way to answer the question (set up an

experiment), tell what happens (record your observations), and answer the

question (support or refute the initial hypothesis). One 5th grade teacher

asked her students, in preparation for this assignment, to talk about their

favorite things at home. One student, Jade, spoke about her cat. A classmate,

Eric, discussed his house plants. Capitalizing on their responses, the teacher

asked Jade and Eric to think of questions each had about the cat and the

plants. Jade wanted to know if her cat would like other cat foods as much

as he liked the brand he normally ate. Eric wanted to know how plants

grow. Through the teacher’s mediation, Jade organized an experiment to

answer her question about cat food. She arranged four different brands

of cat food in four different bowls and placed them on the fl oor. When the

cat entered the room, she observed which bowl he went to initially and

from which bowl he ate. Jade changed the positions of the bowls and tried

the experiment again. Ultimately, she concluded that her cat preferred one

brand over the others.


With his teacher’s mediation, Eric focused his question: Does the human

voice affect the growth of a plant? Eric planted four bean seeds in four

different pots and placed them all on the same shelf near a window. Each

day he took each pot, one at a time, into another room. He spoke daily to

one of the bean plants. He sang daily to a second plant. He yelled daily

at a third plant. And he completely ignored the fourth. He recorded his

observations over four weeks and concluded that the plants to which he

spoke and sang grew the most.

The students’ thinking drove these experiments, and the teacher’s mediation

framed the processes that followed. The curriculum content—exploration

of the scientifi c method—was addressed faithfully in a different manner for

each student.

5. Constructivist teachers inquire about students’ understandings of

concepts before sharing their own understandings of those concepts.

When teachers share their ideas and theories before students have an

opportunity to develop their own, students’ questioning of their own

theories is essentially eliminated. Students assume that teachers know more

than they do. Consequently, most students stop thinking about a concept or

theory once they hear “the correct answer” from the teacher.

Constructivist teachers withhold their notions and encourage students to

develop their own thoughts. Approximated (or invented) spelling is a good

example of this approach. As very young students are learning how to put

words into writing, they begin to approximate the conventional spellings of

words. A kindergarten girl titled a sign language book she had illustrated

by writing on the cover “My sin lnge bk.” The teacher chose not to correct

her spelling but, instead, to permitted her to continue approximating the

spelling of words. Interestingly, when reading the book at home to her

parents a day after writing this title, the girl said, “Oh, I left the two o’s

out of book.” No one told the girl that her spelling was incorrect. She

reformulated her own work in the process of sharing it. Her reformulation

was a self-regulated event. The teacher’s plan to share her understanding

of the conventional spelling, in this case, became unnecessary.


6. Constructivist teachers encourage students to engage in dialogue,

both with the teacher and with one another.

One very powerful way students come to change or reinforce conceptions is

through social discourse. Having an opportunity to present one’s own ideas

as well as being permitted to hear and refl ect on the ideas of others is an

empowering experience. The benefi t of discourse with others, particularly

with peers, facilitates the meaning-making process.

Student-to-student dialogue is the foundation upon which cooperative

learning is structured. Reports state that cooperative learning experiences

have promoted interpersonal attraction among initially prejudiced peers

and such experiences have promoted interethnic interaction in both

instructional and free-time activities (Johnson et al. 1981).

The benefi ts of peer-to-peer dialogue among teachers reinforces its potential

for students. Pre-service teachers in one science methods course were

asked to design, in cooperative learning groups, a system for a family to

generate electricity for its home, using windmills. The instructions said that

no batteries could be used. During a whole-class discussion of each group’s

work-in-progress, the issue of energy storage led quickly to a discussion

of batteries. Most students defi ned “battery” in terms of what one typically

purchases in a store: an electrolytic cell such as the type used in toys and

fl ashlights, or larger cells such as those used to power automobiles. Three

students, however, objected and defi ned a battery as any device that can

store energy, such as an expanded balloon or a tank of hot water. The

dialogues that ensued resulted in, for some students, the transformation of

perspectives and, for others, the onset of refl ection on a new topic.

Two weeks later, while this same class grappled with another seemingly

simple problem—how to redraw silhouettes in half the original size—one

student, after much consideration of the question, declared: “Now we’re

trying to fi gure out what ‘half’ really means. I still want to know: What is a

battery!” In each of these sessions, the students addressed their questions

and statements to one another. The teacher clarifi ed the questions they

raised of one another and demanded accuracy of word choice, but the

communication currents were between and among the students and led to

deeper understandings of the topics at hand.


7. Constructivist teachers encourage student inquiry by asking

thoughtful, open-ended questions and encouraging students to ask

questions of each other.

If we want students to value inquiry, we, as educators, must also value

it. If teachers pose questions with the orientation that there is only one

correct response, how can students be expected to develop their interest or

their analytic skills necessary for more diverse modes of inquiry? Schools

too often present students with one perspective: Pi = 3.14 (But C/d—

circumference/diameter—yields another number; and if Pi is computed

as the quotient of two integers, how can it be considered irrational?).

Complex, thoughtful questions challenge students to look beyond the

apparent, to delve into issues deeply and broadly, and to form their own

understandings of events and phenomena. They know that there are

different ways to compute with and conceptualize Pi, and that the search

for Pi’s precise value has infl uenced modern research relating to the science

of chaos. All this enables students to form important questions that may

lead to deeper understanding of geometry and mathematical functions.

Fostering appreciation for a multiplicity of truths and options is the “real”

mission of education because “real” problems are rarely unidimensional.

In one 3rd grade classroom, a teacher formed “consultant groups.” Each

student became a consultant on a self-selected topic and was responsible

for keeping the rest of the class informed about that topic. Each consultant

belonged to a small group of students that is tasked to question each other

to learn about the chosen topics.

One student was so knowledgeable about volcanoes that he gave “lectures”

on the topic to other classes. One day, the student was describing to his

group how volcanoes develop in certain regions. As his group members

considered this new information, one student asked him whether a volcano

could be developing underneath the school, and if so, how would he know.

The student-consultant carefully pondered this question and said, “I don’t

think volcanoes could develop here, but I’m not sure. But, I think we would

know if a volcano were developing here.”


“How?” another student asked.

“Well,” the student-consultant responded, “if a volcano were under the

school, the grass would be turning brown from the heat. As long as the

grass is green, I think we’re safe.”

Discourse with one’s peer group is a critical factor in learning and

development. Schools need to create settings that foster such interaction.

8. Constructivist teachers seek elaboration of students’ initial

responses.

Initial responses are just that—initial responses. Students’ fi rst thoughts

about issues are not necessarily their fi nal thoughts or their best thoughts.

Through elaboration, students often reconceptualize and assess their own

errors. For example, one high school mathematics teacher assigned his

class problems in a textbook. A student, looking quite confused, asked the

teacher if her approach to solving one of the problems was appropriate.

The teacher asked the student to explain what she had done. As she was

explaining her approach in a step-by-step manner, she recognized her own

procedural error. She smiled and said, “I forgot to multiply both sides of

the equation by “x.” The teacher based his responses to the student on

the premise that he could learn more about what teaching steps to take in

subsequent lessons with the student than he could learn from simply fi xing

the mistake for her.

9. Constructivist teachers engage students in experiences that might

engender contradictions to their initial hypotheses and then encourage

discussion.

Students of all ages develop and refi ne ideas about phenomena and then

hold tenaciously onto these ideas as eternal truths. Even in the face of

“authoritative” intervention and “hard” data that challenge their views,

students typically adhere staunchly to their original notions. Through

experiences that might engender contradictions, the frameworks for these

notions weaken, causing students to rethink their perspectives and form

new understandings. Consider the following example:


During a discussion in a high school history class about the causes of World

War I, one student contended with great conviction that the assassination of

the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria caused the war. The teacher then asked,

“If the Archduke had not been assassinated, what do you think would have

happened with the economy and politics of Europe?”

After a moment’s thought, the student said, “I guess they wouldn’t have

changed that much.”

The teacher then asked, “Would anything else have changed? How about

Germany’s quest to rule Europe?”

The student replied, “I can’t think of anything that would have changed,

except that maybe the Archduke would still be alive.”

“Then,” continued the teacher, “what was it that made this event the cause

of the war?”

The student, now quite enmeshed in thought, said, “I guess that maybe

it [the war] could have happened anyway. But, the killing of Austria’s

Archduke gave the Germans an excuse to begin their plan to conquer all

of Europe. When Russia and France jumped in to help Serbia, the Germans

declared war on them, too. But, I think I see what you mean. It was probably

going to happen anyway. It just happened sooner.”

Note that this elaborate explanation didn’t come from the teacher. It came

from the student. Note also that the student said, “I think I see what you

mean,” as if the meaning came from the teacher. But it did not. The meaning

was constructed by the student who was ready and able to understand a

different point of view. When the student revealed his original perspective,

the teacher was presented with the opportunity to intervene; but the

contradiction was constructed by the student.

In this example, the teacher challenged the student’s thinking with

questions. The questions provided a mechanism for the student to reveal

very sophisticated understandings of the events and political subcurrents.

The teacher never directly told the student to look at the assassination

as a catalyst rather than a cause. She simply wanted to present a way for


the student to consider this perspective as an option. The student quickly

embraced this view. Some other students in the class didn’t distinguish

between a catalytic event and a causal event. They didn’t construct the same

“contradiction” that this student constructed. The teacher then directed

the class discussion to other students with subsequent questions such as:

“Who also thinks that war would have just happened sooner?” “Why?”

“Who disagrees?” “For what reason?” Without acknowledging one answer

as better than another, everyone can participate and listen to others.

10. Constructivist teachers allow wait time after posing questions.

In every classroom, there are students who, for a variety of reasons, are

not prepared to respond to questions or other stimuli immediately. They

process the world in different ways. Classroom environments that require

immediate responses prevent these students from thinking through issues

and concepts thoroughly, forcing them, in effect, to become spectators as

their quicker classmates react. They learn over time that there’s no point in

mentally engaging in teacher-posed questions because the questions will

have been answered before they could develop hypotheses.

Another reason students need wait time is that the questions posed by

teachers are not always the questions heard by the students. The “Gatling

gun approach” to asking and answering questions does not provide an

opportunity for the teacher to sense the manner in which most of the

students have understood the questions.

11. Constructivist teachers provide time for students to construct

relationships and create metaphors.

In one 2nd grade classroom, students were given magnets to explore. In

a short time, almost all of the students had discovered that one end of a

magnet attracted the other magnet while the opposite end repelled it. Soon,

most of the students discovered that if one of the magnets were turned

around, the magnets that had attracted each other now repelled each other.

This activity took nearly 45 minutes, during which time some students

went beyond these initial relationships and joined forces with their peers

to create magnetic “trains,” and to create patterns with iron fi lings. A great

number of relationships, patterns, and theories were generated during this

activity, and none of them came from the teacher. The teacher structured


and mediated the activity and provided the necessary time and material

for learning to occur, but the students constructed the relationships

themselves.

Encouraging the use of metaphor is another important way to facilitate

learning.

At an in-service seminar offered to experienced teachers and administrators

on the topic of educational change, participants were asked to think of

metaphors for the process of change in their work settings. One participant

likened change to the making of wine: The seeds must be planted in fertile

ground; the grapes must be harvested at the right moment; and the wine

must be aged in vats or bottles. Another participant thought of educational

change as a symphony orchestra: There must be a conductor who decides

what pieces shall be played and who helps all the musicians to play together.

A third participant compared change to preparing a meal: There is a chef

who selects the menu, chooses complementary condiments, applies them

according to a recipe (or whim), and lets the food cook until it is ready

for consumption. Metaphors help people understand complex issues in a

holistic way and tinker mentally with the parts of the whole to determine

whether the metaphor works. And all of this takes time.

12. Constructivist teachers nurture students’ natural curiosity through

frequent use of the learning cycle model.

The learning cycle model describes curriculum development and instruction

as a three-step cycle.

First, the teacher provides an open-ended opportunity for students to

interact with purposefully selected materials. The primary goal of this

initial lesson is for students to generate questions and hypotheses from

working with the materials. This step has been called “discovery.” Next,

the teacher provides the “concept introduction” lessons aimed at focusing

the students’ questions, providing related new vocabulary, framing with

students their proposed laboratory experiences, and so forth. The third step,

“concept application,” completes the cycle after one or more iterations of

the discovery-concept introduction sequence. During concept application,

students work on new problems with the potential for evoking a fresh look

at the concepts previously studied.


Let’s take a look at how this cycle evolved in a 3rd year earth science classroom.

In this classroom, the teacher told the students about the Chinook winds,

the warm, dry, fast winds that blow down from the Rocky Mountains into

the region just east of the mountains. The winds can be 40°-50° warmer

than the surrounding air. In this example, the material made available for

discovery purposes was a scenario for the students to consider. The teacher

asked the students to work in small groups to generate a diagram that could

explain why this occurrence might happen. As the groups began to work, the

teacher listened to his students’ deliberations, intervening in different ways

dependent on the course of the dialogue occurring among the students.

He asked a group that was “stuck” to begin by drawing the vegetation

on the sides of the mountain. While drawing, the students began to talk

about rainfall, where it was coming from, the patterns of cloud movement,

and so on. At that point, the teacher moved to a group of students having

a conversation about how hot air rises. The teacher asked another group,

“Why does the warm wind move down if hot air rises?” One girl in the

group said emphatically, “That’s what I don’t understand!” That’s music to

a constructivist teacher’s ears!

The teacher said: “Now you know what the problem is. Just don’t forget that

the wind is fast, too.” And the teacher moved on to students with whom he

had not yet interacted that day.

What concept introduction should follow this discovery opportunity? The

teacher wanted to introduce the concept of adiabatic pressure—a most

sophisticated concept that without consideration of heat gain and heat loss,

wind speed, and moisture conditions is largely inaccessible. The Chinook

winds activity allowed the teacher to assess what elements of the concept

are within the students’ intellectual reach.

Source: SEAMEO INNOTECH. (2002). Constructivism in Teaching &

Learning.Project COMPETE, pp. 21-29.

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